Divine Influence

This morning I noticed a little phrase in Colossians 3:16. In fact, Colossians 3:12-16, pretty much sums up what could 'fix' us all, if we lived in and by it. The little phrase is this: "...singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." What does it mean to have grace to the Lord and to sing with this grace to Him?

Webster always throws a fresh light on things, even though he's been dead for years.

Under 'grace' in the dictionary, there is a theological definition.
The first one sounds familiar.

Grace is:
a) the unmerited love and favor of God toward man.

This is the grace that comes through Jesus Christ.

John describes Jesus as 'full of grace and truth.
Of His fullness we have all received,
and grace for grace.'

We've been given His fullness
and grace to receive and give grace.
Oh, to be filled with the fullness of God!
Full of grace and truth!
This is probably my favorite verse in the entire Bible.

Then, Webster gives two more theological definitions for grace.

Grace is also:
b)divine influence acting in man
and
c) the condition of a person thus influenced


The unmerited love and favor of God towards us
divinely influences us to give His unmerited love and favor to others.
And to ourselves.

And this grace also makes us a gracious person.
It becomes the condition in which we exist.

This grace affects our singing.
"Singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord."

This grace affects our speaking.
"Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt,
that you may know how to answer each one." (Col.4:6)

This grace affects our strength.
"..be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus."
(11 Tim. 2:1)

This grace affects our hearts.
"...it is good that the heart be established by grace."
(Hebrews 13:9)
Establish=to make stable;settle
A stable, settled heart because of grace.

This grace affects our stewardship.
"As each one has received a gift,
minister it to one another,
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."
(1 Peter 4:10)

Get this.

Manifold means 'having many and various forms and parts.'

A steward is a 'keeper;
one who is in charge of the affairs
of a large estate.'

We are keepers of the large estate
of the many and various
forms of the grace of God!
We are keepers of grace
to give it away!

This grace also grows.
"..but grow in the grace and knowledge of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
(11 Peter 3:18)

Grace is living.
Never stagnant.

It grows as we receive His grace
and give His grace
and sing with grace
and speak with grace
and are strengthened with grace
and are established with grace
and are keepers of grace.

Being filled with grace
and operating out of His grace
will make us people of grace.

If we live in this grace
we won't operate out of our insecurities
about what others think of us.
We will give them grace.

We'll have grace to give grace
and grace to receive grace.

For just as we must give grace to those who do not deserve it
so others must rely on grace when they are relating to us
when we least deserve grace.

It's all about grace.

And of His fullness we have all received,
and grace for grace.