Day 16: Live like Jesus - by grace

Jesus set the pattern for the walk of faith and we are invited to follow. You might at first be tempted to say, “But that was Jesus! I can’t expect to be like Him!” However, Jesus Himself told us otherwise. In John 14:12, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also.” Likewise, the apostle John, who was an eyewitness of all that Jesus did, said, “The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:6).

If you still hesitate to accept this challenge, it may be because you do not understand the scope of God’s grace. In 2 Corinthians 9:8, the key word is grace: “God is able to make all grace abound to you.” The basis of our provision is not our own wisdom or ability, but God’s grace.

“Grace has only one channel— Jesus Christ. It is not received through the observance of any legal or religious system of rules, but solely and invariably through Christ, as is stated in John 1:17: ‘For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’” (NIV)

In Ephesians 2:8–9 we see our faith is grace also: “For by grace you have been saved through faith... not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” Grace goes beyond anything that we can ever achieve or earn simply by our own abilities. Therefore, the only means by which we can appropriate it is faith. As long as we limit ourselves merely to what we deserve or what we can earn, we are failing to exercise faith, and therefore we do not enjoy God’s grace to the full.