Thoughts from the last two gatherings

2 Cor. 12:7-10

In verse 9 Jesus says that His grace is made sufficient to us and that His power is made perfect in our weakness.

This is said after Peter talks about his visions and how God allowed Satan to put a thorn in his side and after Peter asked God to take it out.

Peter goes on to say that he will no longer boast in the great things but upon his weakness because God's power is made perfect in our weakness.

How many times do I boast about how great I am or how awesome I am and never give God the credit for anything?

A question asked during our last gather was "Does offering grace result in death?" How crazy is that question?

I think that this question is not talking about physical death. I think that it is talking about a death to our worldly selves and a death to what the world thinks of us.

The question that immediately came to my mind after thinking about the answer to that question was "If offering grace result in death, does offering grace result in life?" I believe so. I believe that when we show grace to others we find new life in Jesus. In Matthew 25:40 Jesus says "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." I believe that this is saying that when we show grace to others we show grace to God because He shows us grace all of the time. So it becomes a sort of cycle type of thing. That since God shows grace to us we should show grace to others like God shows grace to us. Through showing grace to other I believe that Jesus is giving us new life and thus offering grace results in life and not just life here on earth but also eternal life in heaven.

I am not saying that works is the way to heaven but that offering grace is a way that we show God's love to people.