Nice Line Of Grace

 

Nice Line Of Grace

Whose line of clothes are you wearing? Put very simply, a designer has his or her line of jeans, clothing peculiar and identifiable to their particular brand of jeans. They know their own brand and can identify fakes and those who try to imitate them. Is this what Jesus is saying to those listening to Him about God and His wedding clothes of Grace? For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2: 8 – 9 KJV. When Jesus told the parable about God’s Kingdom and likened it to a king having a banquet for his son, many truths about grace were revealed to those with hearing ears.

When the dinner was ready to be served, and the invited guests did not show up, the king’s servants were instructed to go out into the streets and gather all the people they could find – no stipulations. The street people welcomed the opportunity and came to the banquet as they were. However, when the king himself came in to greet his guests, he noticed someone who was not wearing wedding clothes. Friend, he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? The man was speechless. Matthew 22: 12. Someone stood out, who was not a street corner invitee, one who had not been found by the servants of the king. How did the king know this? He knew because that one guest was not wearing his line of wedding clothes. What is our Lord’s Line of clothing? It is the NICE line of Grace.

If you accept that Grace is the wedding clothes, then the NICE of feasting by grace, is not missed by our Lord. In other words, because of Grace, good and bad have been invited to share in the banquet of our Lord. They come, perfectly dressed and clothed in the beautiful wedding garment of Grace. But the Lord God enters and immediately there is one who stands out, not because of bad things he or she has done, not because he or she is a street-corner person, but because that person thought to slip in without Grace.

Here’s the problem. Many hear of Grace and see how it is no respecter of persons. They become totally misled and misguided and believe that Grace can be taken. Grace cannot be taken, for it is given. To take grace, is to try to work for it and that is to be most presumptuous. Such thinking and doing is to get oneself thrown out into utter darkness and lost forever. Be fully knowledgeable of your Lord’s NICE Line of clothing – that of GRACE - seeking at all times, come what may, to wear it. What’s His Line? It’s the, Nature of Grace, Integrity of Grace, Character of Grace, Ethos of Grace. Beware! God is not fooled by imitations. 

As you read each devotion, may you seek and delight fully, only in our Lord’s given NICE Line of Grace, for we are all saved by God’s Grace, not our works.