• John 1:14-17 (AMP) And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us; and we [actually] saw His glory, glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of the Father, [the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth (absolutely free of deception). John testified [repeatedly] about Him and has cried out [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, for He existed before me.’" For out of His fullness [the super-abundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift]. For the Law was given through Moses, but grace [the unearned, undeserved favor of God] and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, the Word that became flesh, God the Son, the Way, the Truth and the Life is the source of eternal life, love, joy, all that is pure, beautiful, holy and all that “grace” means. Jesus is the Truth and He is the Word and the Bible as His Word is also the Truth. The deeper we understand the Scripture, the more we know who God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit really are.

The apostle John writes that “we have all received” the super-abundance of Jesus' grace and truth and “grace upon grace,” which the Amplified Bible explains as: “spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift.” This is God's lavishness as His gifts are not given to us sparingly; all He is giving us through Jesus is in abundance, always more than enough. If we do not have them, the problem lies with us, not God. We cannot benefit if we do not understand or are not aware of what is ours and we do not know how to access what the Lord has already provided for us in Jesus Christ and His Word. Sadly, we see that not everyone lives blessed and fulfilled lives in Christ. To possess what Jesus won at the cross for us, we have to be born-again and have the desire to understand who Jesus is, know who are we in Him and the blessings that belong to us because of Him. The Holy Spirit has been sent to us to be our Helper and to reveal the truth of God's Word. That means that by asking the Lord to help us, we are more able to understand and benefit from God's grace unto us.

According to “Strong's Exhaustive Concordance,” the word “charis” means: graciousness (as gratifying), of manner or act, especially the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; including gratitude. It can also mean: acceptable, benefit, favor, gift, grace, gracious, joy, liberality, pleasure, thanks, thank-worthy.

“Thayer's Greek Lexicon” translates the Greek word “χάρις” as “charis” meaning: grace, that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech. It can also mean: good will, loving-kindness, favor; or: of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.

The term can be also used for the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace or for the token or proof of grace, benefit; It can also be a gift of grace, benefit, bounty, it can also mean: thanks (for benefits, services, favors), recompense, reward.

After we understand that we have the super-abundance of God's grace, we can have more peace in the midst of life's storms. We can count on our Lord. He is always here for us. He never forgets or forsakes us. He is ready to take action, even if He does it in His perfect timing and not in ours. He is for us and not against us.

Praise You Lord that no matter what trial we have to go through, we are on Your team and that is the winning team!

Carmen Pușcaș

God, in His wisdom, does not ask us to do anything that we cannot do or that would cost us more than be beneficial. In being a part of the Lord's vineyard, it is not only service. While we serve Him in maintaining a proper relationship and live life in obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we reap the benefits of growth and spiritual maturity.

Our salvation cost the Lord much more than many of us think it cost us. We feel that we must “give up everything” so that we can follow Him which is true in a sense. But literally, God the Father had his Son leave His position, splendor, beauty and divine order of heaven to live within the limits of a human body in a dirty, shabby, dusty and sinful world... God the Father endured seeing His son taunted, tortured, whipped, beaten, bleeding and exhausted without being able to intervene and even more, to see His innocent Son take upon Himself all the sin, suffering, grief, sorrows and diseases of all mankind (Isaiah 53:4-5). To watch His son, who had never sinned, hanging a cross that He was nailed to through His hands and feet, between two thieves, among the "transgressors" suffering the worst and most painful death possible at that time. "Jesus cried with a loud voice,"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" Jesus was saying, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) Jesus was actually acknowledging that His Father had forsaken Him . The Father's and Son's pain reached its peak, when the sins separated them for the first and only time, ever. They chose to go through all that pain, out of their love for us. How could we not treasure a love so great? Who paid more? God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit or us???

What did we give up to be saved? The sin, bad habits and lifestyle and relationships we had were destroying us. The rules that God made for us have only been and always are for our benefit. Sin separated us from Him and the true, abundant life He had for us. We gained eternal life, a pardon from the eternal death that we deserve. It has been “all gain” for us. There is nothing in this world worth losing our souls for and yet, many turn back to sin every day.

Life with God is constantly beneficial for us. He knows what we could never know and is constantly here to help us make right choices. We need to glorify God with all our hearts and souls, and give Him our attention everyday and focus on the One who “deserves” all the love, adoration, honor, obedience and our worship. When we detach ourselves from the stresses of this life, we can begin to realize that there is the bigger picture and trust that God always brings something good from what at the time, seems the worst.

• Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

This verse is one of the first ones that comes to my mind when going through hard times and I must say that I have never been disappointed. Each time the Holy Spirit has strengthened me with this verse; He also reminded me of similar situations that I went through and which seemed hopeless and how the Lord always saw me through. Is this not true for us all, as the Lord's children?

Once we taste the goodness and love of God and enjoy the safety of His protection over our lives, there could be no real reason to ever "go back" to the old life of sin and temptation. If one might be somehow tempted by the devil to partake of the so-called “pleasures of the world,” do not be deceived. Nothing can compare to what the Lord has for us in this life and even more of what has prepared for us for eternity.

As Paul recorded under the leadership of the Holy Spirit,

• Romans 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

The Lord cleansed and forgave us, covered us in His righteousness and canceled the debt we owed for our sins and asks one thing of us: "to live by the Holy Spirit" meaning, in obedience to the Lord.

The more I think about it, I can sincerely say that it really did not cost me anything to make Jesus my Lord and Savior. All the things that I thought were so valuable, including “self-lordship” are nothing to me now. The fact that I had to change the way I think, live and act and even learn new values, was all for my benefit. It is “profit” to me and not “cost.” I would not turn back from my new life in Christ for anything. Why would I want to go back to an old lifestyle full of worry, fear and insecurity? So the “price” I paid was actually a “huge gain” and in contrast, the price my Lord paid dearly for me was a “true cost.” I can only love Him and never cease to thank Him for redeeming me! Loving Jesus has only brought me the greatest good! Glory to God!

Carmen Pușcaș