Grace Filled

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Are you religious? Are you worshiping God along with everyone else in your house? Are you giving to the poor and praying to God, always? Are you like the man, Cornelius, found in Acts 10? This was a Roman man living under Jewish Law. He was a man who saw and recognized the power and authority of God and chose to live according to His statutes and requirements. He submitted his family and his entire household to the requirements of the Law, and Acts 10 goes on to tell us that God heard him when he prayed.

This man, Cornelius was a Gentile, a Roman, who had made a choice to live according to the religious law of the Jewish people. He desired a right relationship with God, the Creator of all, and was willing to alter his lifestyle to fulfill any requirement that would bring him closer to Him. As a result of his desire to draw close to a holy God, Cornelius was visited by an Angel who told him to send out some men to get Peter.

Then there was Peter, the rock as Jesus called him. Peter, who had been a man who embraced the law as well, but who had the blessing of knowing the Man of Grace, the Lord Jesus Christ and understanding the New Covenant. Peter also got a supernatural gift. He was blessed with a dream in which God showed him all kinds of animals, birds, and reptiles. It was a dream in which God told Peter, through the Jewish Law, that it’s okay to preach to Gentiles as well as to Jewish people. God told Peter that nothing was unclean that He had made; not food, and certainly not people.

So Peter went to the house of Cornelius and told him and his family about Jesus. He gave them a gospel lesson, telling them about Christ and His miracles, His death, and His resurrection. The Bible tells us that while Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit came into the house and filled everyone there, Jew and Gentile alike. Everyone who heard the name of Jesus, and the gift of His Grace proclaimed, was filled with the Holy Spirit.

While there were blessings to be had by Cornelius and his household for practicing God’s law and living into a lifestyle of do good-get good, there was something even greater to be brought to them by understanding the gift of God’s grace. Cornelius was blessed that day with a new understanding that it’s not through the law that we receive God’s ultimate blessings, but through His grace.

Incidentally, Cornelius means strong willed, full of desire. Peter means rock. Some say that Peter’s name and his personality is a representation of the Law, the Ten Commandments. So here was a man, full of desire to fulfill the law, to be close to God, and there was God, wanting desperately to reveal His true gracious self to him. So He sent Peter, a representative of the Law, to fill the longing desire in Cornelius’ heart with the grace and forgiveness that can only be found in the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ.

Today I ask; are you fulfilling some law, some duty to God in order to gain His favor? Are you trying to draw near and impress Him with your works and your deeds? He loves you through that, but not because of that. Stop for a moment and realize that Jesus’ grace is all you need. His grace is greater in glory and blessings than works and deeds can ever be. And because we are clothed with His righteousness, His perfect fulfillment of the law, there is NOTHING we can do to achieve a greater blessing.