Arrested
Living Under Grace: Breaking Free from Condemnation
What if everything you believed about God's expectations for your life was filtered through feelings rather than truth? Many believers today live under a cloud—not of divine blessing, but of judgment and condemnation. They wake each morning bracing for disappointment rather than embracing the abundant life promised in Scripture.
Yet the message of Galatians opens with a revolutionary declaration: "Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ." Not judgment. Not condemnation. Grace and peace.
The Engine That Drives Your Life
Every train needs an engine. The question we must ask ourselves is simple but profound: What's driving your spiritual train? Is it feelings or faith?
Feelings make terrible engines. They fluctuate with circumstances, rise and fall with emotions, and leave us spiritually unstable. Feelings should be the caboose—following along behind faith—not the locomotive pulling everything forward.
Faith anchored in God's Word provides the steady, reliable power source for the Christian life. When we understand what God truly wills for us, we can move forward with confidence regardless of how we feel on any given day.
The Double Portion Promise
Throughout the New Testament epistles—in Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Peter's letters, and Revelation—we find the same greeting repeated: "Grace to you and peace from God the Father and Jesus His Son."
This isn't mere formality. It's a double portion promise. Grace from the Father, grace from the Son. Peace from the Father, peace from the Son. This is the complete package God offers—not a value meal with missing fries, but the "full meal deal".
Second Corinthians 13:14 expands this blessing even further: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Grace, love, and fellowship—this is God's will operating in your life continually.
Deliverance from the Present Evil Age
Galatians 1:4 reveals God's purpose: to deliver us from this present evil age. Written nearly 2,000 years ago, this message resonates even more powerfully today. We live in increasingly difficult times where wickedness surrounds us at every turn.
Consider Lot, living in Sodom and Gomorrah. Second Peter 2:8 describes him as "a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day." Yet verse 9 declares: "The Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials."
The same God who sent angels to deliver Lot has sent His grace, peace, and the presence of the Holy Spirit to deliver us. We're called to walk above the battle, not under it or trapped within it.
The Extraordinary Patience of God
Why does God extend such grace? Second Peter 3 explains that God is "extraordinarily patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance."
God takes no pleasure in judgment. Ezekiel 33:11 confirms that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. His nature is compassionate, merciful, and filled with unfailing love. His mercies are literally recreated fresh each morning—reformed, refashioned, and made available the moment we open our eyes.
Isaiah 30:18 beautifully captures this truth: "The Lord must wait for you to come to Him so He can show you His love and compassion."
The Damascus Road Encounter
The conversion of Saul to Paul illustrates God's transformative power most dramatically. Here was a man participating in violence, assault, abuse of authority, and murder—actively persecuting the church. He carried believers off in chains and sought letters of authority to extend his persecution to other cities.
Then came the encounter on the Damascus road at high noon. A light brighter than the sun—not the solar luminary but the Shekinah glory of heaven itself—knocked Saul to the ground and blinded him. The brilliance was so intense that Saul couldn't see for three days.
From that light came a voice: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
"Who are You, Lord?" Saul responded—a confession of submission in that single word "Lord" (Kyrios in Greek, meaning owner and master).
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."
How You Treat Others Is How You Treat Jesus
This encounter reveals a principle woven throughout Scripture: how we treat others is how we're treating Jesus Himself.
Matthew 25 makes this explicit. When we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, house strangers, clothe the needy, or visit the sick and imprisoned, Jesus says, "You were doing it to Me."
Whatever need we're prompted to meet in the moment, we're ministering to Jesus. Anyone who receives a believer receives Christ. How we treat others opens the windows of divine reciprocity—what we sow, we will reap.
Proverbs reinforces this: "He who oppresses the poor taunts and insults his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors Him."
The Great News for Everyone
Saul's conversion carries profound hope for all of us. If God could forgive and transform someone so far gone—someone actively working against the kingdom—then no one is beyond redemption.
God saw beyond Saul's past and looked into his future. What's in the past doesn't matter. What matters is where you're going and what you're going to do.
Paul's calling became clear: to open people's eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, so they could receive forgiveness and a place among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ.
The Call to Reconciliation
Second Corinthians 5:19-21 presents the bottom line: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself...God no longer counts their sin against them."
Why? Because He's looking at the world through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Believers are given "this wonderful message of reconciliation." We're Christ's ambassadors, and God makes His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead with others: "Come back to God."
This is the great exchange: God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Him.
Two Actions, One Message
The message is simple but life-changing. For believers: be reconcilers. Live and breathe and move as people who understand they've received grace, peace, love, and forgiveness—then extend that same invitation to others.
For those not yet there: be reconciled. Simply understand that God loves you so much that He's already forgiven you. Accept the gift. Receive the grace that washes sin away. Come into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ.
It doesn't matter what you've done. It matters where you're going. God's will includes you knowing and experiencing His love, grace, peace, mercy, and presence—always.
The question remains: What's driving your train today?
What if everything you believed about God's expectations for your life was filtered through feelings rather than truth? Many believers today live under a cloud—not of divine blessing, but of judgment and condemnation. They wake each morning bracing for disappointment rather than embracing the abundant life promised in Scripture.
Yet the message of Galatians opens with a revolutionary declaration: "Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ." Not judgment. Not condemnation. Grace and peace.
The Engine That Drives Your Life
Every train needs an engine. The question we must ask ourselves is simple but profound: What's driving your spiritual train? Is it feelings or faith?
Feelings make terrible engines. They fluctuate with circumstances, rise and fall with emotions, and leave us spiritually unstable. Feelings should be the caboose—following along behind faith—not the locomotive pulling everything forward.
Faith anchored in God's Word provides the steady, reliable power source for the Christian life. When we understand what God truly wills for us, we can move forward with confidence regardless of how we feel on any given day.
The Double Portion Promise
Throughout the New Testament epistles—in Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Peter's letters, and Revelation—we find the same greeting repeated: "Grace to you and peace from God the Father and Jesus His Son."
This isn't mere formality. It's a double portion promise. Grace from the Father, grace from the Son. Peace from the Father, peace from the Son. This is the complete package God offers—not a value meal with missing fries, but the "full meal deal".
Second Corinthians 13:14 expands this blessing even further: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." Grace, love, and fellowship—this is God's will operating in your life continually.
Deliverance from the Present Evil Age
Galatians 1:4 reveals God's purpose: to deliver us from this present evil age. Written nearly 2,000 years ago, this message resonates even more powerfully today. We live in increasingly difficult times where wickedness surrounds us at every turn.
Consider Lot, living in Sodom and Gomorrah. Second Peter 2:8 describes him as "a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day." Yet verse 9 declares: "The Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials."
The same God who sent angels to deliver Lot has sent His grace, peace, and the presence of the Holy Spirit to deliver us. We're called to walk above the battle, not under it or trapped within it.
The Extraordinary Patience of God
Why does God extend such grace? Second Peter 3 explains that God is "extraordinarily patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance."
God takes no pleasure in judgment. Ezekiel 33:11 confirms that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. His nature is compassionate, merciful, and filled with unfailing love. His mercies are literally recreated fresh each morning—reformed, refashioned, and made available the moment we open our eyes.
Isaiah 30:18 beautifully captures this truth: "The Lord must wait for you to come to Him so He can show you His love and compassion."
The Damascus Road Encounter
The conversion of Saul to Paul illustrates God's transformative power most dramatically. Here was a man participating in violence, assault, abuse of authority, and murder—actively persecuting the church. He carried believers off in chains and sought letters of authority to extend his persecution to other cities.
Then came the encounter on the Damascus road at high noon. A light brighter than the sun—not the solar luminary but the Shekinah glory of heaven itself—knocked Saul to the ground and blinded him. The brilliance was so intense that Saul couldn't see for three days.
From that light came a voice: "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?"
"Who are You, Lord?" Saul responded—a confession of submission in that single word "Lord" (Kyrios in Greek, meaning owner and master).
"I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting."
How You Treat Others Is How You Treat Jesus
This encounter reveals a principle woven throughout Scripture: how we treat others is how we're treating Jesus Himself.
Matthew 25 makes this explicit. When we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, house strangers, clothe the needy, or visit the sick and imprisoned, Jesus says, "You were doing it to Me."
Whatever need we're prompted to meet in the moment, we're ministering to Jesus. Anyone who receives a believer receives Christ. How we treat others opens the windows of divine reciprocity—what we sow, we will reap.
Proverbs reinforces this: "He who oppresses the poor taunts and insults his Maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors Him."
The Great News for Everyone
Saul's conversion carries profound hope for all of us. If God could forgive and transform someone so far gone—someone actively working against the kingdom—then no one is beyond redemption.
God saw beyond Saul's past and looked into his future. What's in the past doesn't matter. What matters is where you're going and what you're going to do.
Paul's calling became clear: to open people's eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, so they could receive forgiveness and a place among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ.
The Call to Reconciliation
Second Corinthians 5:19-21 presents the bottom line: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself...God no longer counts their sin against them."
Why? Because He's looking at the world through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Believers are given "this wonderful message of reconciliation." We're Christ's ambassadors, and God makes His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead with others: "Come back to God."
This is the great exchange: God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin so that we could be made right with God through Him.
Two Actions, One Message
The message is simple but life-changing. For believers: be reconcilers. Live and breathe and move as people who understand they've received grace, peace, love, and forgiveness—then extend that same invitation to others.
For those not yet there: be reconciled. Simply understand that God loves you so much that He's already forgiven you. Accept the gift. Receive the grace that washes sin away. Come into fellowship with the Father through Jesus Christ.
It doesn't matter what you've done. It matters where you're going. God's will includes you knowing and experiencing His love, grace, peace, mercy, and presence—always.
The question remains: What's driving your train today?
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