JULY 1

1 Corinthians 1:3

GRACE OF GOD

The Corinthian church was founded by Apostle Paul during his 2nd missionary journey. Unlike in other churches, he spent a long period teaching the disciples there – one year and six months! After leaving them, he soon wrote a letter, or epistle, to them upon hearing difficult problems faced by the church. 1 Corinthians is this letter.

Paul started the letter in a gentle way. He reminded the church of the grace of God, for a church must always be built upon God’s grace. A Christian must understand what God’s grace is. Child, do you know what God’s grace is?

Grace is what God may give to us if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. This includes salvation from hell, and also from the sin that can so easily hurt us. There is a famous hymn that has the following words...

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, at saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now am found, Was blind but now I see

Like the songwriter, each of us is a ‘wretch’ before we came to the Lord. This means we were bad, we were sinners. We remain sinners, but there must be changes in our lives.

How are we bad? A boy once asked his Sunday school teacher if God hears everything or every word he says. The teacher answered in affirmative and added, “God also hears every word you think.” Then the child felt sad and told her that God would not like him because he thought of a lot of bad things. But she replied that even knowing how bad we are, God still loves us. is is ‘grace’, the ‘amazing grace’, if we are willing to confess and change. Even though we are wretches, God still loves us.

God did not just say He loved us, in fact, he demonstrated His love for us. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God loves people even though they are sinners. Aren’t you glad God loves you?
Write Romans 5:8, _______________________________________
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Thought: Does knowing Romans 5:8 make you happy?
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I am glad that You love us even though we are sinners. ank You for sending Jesus to die for us and save us from our sins. Please forgive me for the wrong things I do and think. Help me do kind things and have good thoughts. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.