Do I boast of my many sins? NO! But of the grace of our Father manifested in the form of our Lord Jesus. “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little” (Luke 7:47). That scripture has been fulfilled in me that I love much. Also, that I might say, “I am not a righteous man by nature but by the Spirit of God through His grace. Jesus is my righteousness.” “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).

Now, by the receiving of the grace of God through Jesus Christ and accepting the gift of righteousness, I am a steward of God’s grace. “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). Now, being forgiven much and having much love, I can pass on to others their portion of grace through the word of God (our Lord Jesus); I can forgive. That is my good and acceptable service to God, to serve His children; the chief of His children being our Lord Jesus. By my offenses death reigned, but by His grace righteousness reigns in life. Now, being saved by His grace, I am not led by sin but by His righteousness. The works of my hands are no longer my sins but His grace.

How did I receive such grace and love? By faith in the One that manifested grace. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Grace is a reward for those who believe and seek, and the reward is for today (now) as well as forever. As a steward of His grace, I must share the Word that is Jesus the Christ. That Word brings with it hope in what is yet unseen. Through faith, what is yet unseen becomes manifested as grace and that manifestation is Jesus the Christ. Through the blood of Jesus (accepting Jesus in my heart) what was yet unseen becomes seen (manifested), through much forgiveness and much love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

As a steward of His grace, I must also forgive others. Grace cannot be denied to anyone that God has sent me to as a steward of His grace (as a minister of His Word, the gospel). In that way God’s love through me is manifested as grace; grace being manifested as our Lord Jesus the Christ. Forgiveness, through love manifested as grace (Jesus Christ), produces much love. That is the principle of the seed; seed produces like seed. Love produces love. Jesus, the word of God, is the seed of love sent by the Father. “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). Forgiveness is the work that plants the seed of love, in that much forgiveness produces much love (much planting produces much produce). Now we can see that God’s grace is His forgiveness manifested by Jesus the Christ – grace is His work in planting the seed of love.

“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’” (John 6:29). “And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23). The work of planting that love is forgiveness. It is not of my sins that I boast, but of the grace of God that has given me righteousness in place of the death that I deserved. That is God’s grace, manifested in Jesus the Christ that has taken my death and given me His righteousness. God is with me in the work that He has given to me as a steward of His grace. “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father has been working until now, and I have been working’” (John 5:17). Praise God!

© 2006, 2017 Tim D. Coulter Sr.