Grace

Grace

We Stand by Grace

A pastor was traveling on a bus down a bumpy road. Seated next to him was a college student who noticed that the minister was reading his Bible. The minister asked, “Are you spiritually ready for the temptations that you will face in college?”

"I don’t have a problem with temptation," the young man told the minister. "I have strong willpower."

The minister took a pencil from his pocket and said, "I can make this pencil stand up on the cover of this Bible even though the bus ride is bumpy."

The young man said, "I’ll believe it when I see it. I don't think you can do it."

"Look, I’m doing it," he replied as the young man watched.

"Yeah, but you didn't tell me you would hold the pencil up with your hand.

"I didn't have to tell you," the pastor remarked. "Have you ever seen a pencil stand up on its own without someone holding it?"

The minister then let go of the pencil, which instantly fell over. "The only reason you stand," he continued, "is because God is holding you up with His hand."

 If God were to remove His hand of protecting grace, we would immediately fall into sin. Humility is depending completely on God, realizing that He upholds us by His grace (Romans 5:2).

Things Men Can Do

Go astray

Proverbs 28:10  

He who leads the upright along an evil path will fall into his own trap, but the blameless will receive a good inheritance.

Ezekiel 14:11  

Then the people of Israel will no longer stray from me, nor will they defile themselves anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Sovereign LORD.’”

1 Peter 2:25

For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.