God’s Training in Grace

We have an intimate Heavenly Father that trains His kids to become like Jesus.

Earth is God’s training ground for each of us. God uses grace in His training. God’s grace is His unmerited love. Grace means that God showered love and blessing on those who did not in any way deserve or earn it. They deserved His judgment and wrath. But He showed them love.

Of all the ingredients of the training process, love is the most essential. Love is the source from which all the other aspects of training must flow. Love provides the proper atmosphere in which dedication, discipline, instruction, and example must operate. Why? Because if genuine and biblical love is present, the others will also be properly present. If they are not, then love is not really present—at least not a biblical kind of love. Because of the messed up ideas about love in our society, it is imperative that we understand the headwaters from which the river of love must flow. The fountainhead for love must be the absolutes of the Word of God and not our feelings or ideas about love, otherwise love becomes no more than soft sentimentality or permissiveness. Without a knowledge and application of the Scripture, love will lack the stamina, the direction, and character it needs to love in truth and effectively.

This undeserved love of God disciplines and trains us in godliness and to live in a way that honors God. It begins at the moment of salvation and continues onward.

Titus 2:11–14 “For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men, training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world,  awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for Himself a people of His own who are zealous for good deeds.”

God’s training and discipline are tough and many times pain and sorrow result. It is definitely reminiscent of my football playing days. Every day in practice we would run until our tongues were hanging out; then we would do blocking and tackling drills until we could barely move. All of this was in hot and humid weather with a coach that would not let us have water during practice. Football was a tough sport with pain and suffering; however, it was a major training ground for me. One major difference is that God does His training of us totally in love.

1 Peter 5:10 “God always gives you all the grace you need. So, you will only have to suffer for a little while. Then God Himself will build you up again. He will make you strong and steady. And He has chosen you to share in his eternal glory because you belong to Christ.”

Hebrews 12:11 “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Trials and discipline provide the opportunities that teach us that God’s best in the Christian life is not the absence of pain and suffering. God’s best in the Christian life is transforming us into Christlikeness.  2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, continually seeing as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are progressively being transformed into His image from one degree of glory to even more glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

As we have been trained in grace to become the image of Christ, God wants us to display in the game of life what we have learned in our training. He calls us to be like Christ and to show grace to others.

This includes loving our enemies and being kind to those who hurt us. Jesus in Matthew 5:44-45 said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” and “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (Luke 6:27-28;). This is done by faith, not feelings. It is accomplished when we look to God and obey Him, drawing on His love and grace. John wrote, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8), and, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11).

The reality of training is that it is difficult. But when I realize just exactly what God did for you and me in becoming a human to be God With Us and what He had to give up, it shows me the true model of GRACE (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense).  

2 Corinthians 8:9: “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”