The U Point of View
God's Plan of Salvation
God sent Jesus down out of His LOVE, MERCY and GRACE.
To raise us up through FAITH, HOPE and LOVE.
The left side of the U represents the way God is toward us. The
first LOVE on the left represents God's love for us which is His reason why
He gave Jesus in the first place to die for us. "For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son..." (Jn 3:16).
MERCY is the basis of God having anything to do with us. Mercy is for who
God saves. We start out His enemies (Rom 5:10) because of our sin. God has
"mercy on whomever He wills and hardens the heart of whomever He wills"
(Rom 9:15) If not for God's mercy we would die in our sins - His mercy is our best
and only hope for salvation. If God is merciful toward us it is because of His
willing it so - His predestinating us to receive His mercy.
God's GRACE is how He saves. Through Jesus Himself and His
sacrifice we receive grace (Jn 1:16). Grace is a sharing relationship - where God
shares Himself with us by giving His Only Son on our behalf and we share in Him by
responding out of thankfulness for Jesus and His sacrifice. (Eph 2:8, 9)
God gives His grace to those who realize the trouble they are in due to their pride
and sin and who humble themselves. (Jas 4:6) We are justified in God's sight
and made acceptable to Him through grace. Jesus did for us that which we are unable
to do for ourselves. (Tit 3:5-7)
The bottom, middle part of the U is where God finds us - at the bottom - which is where we
are automatically due to our sin and our corruption.
The right side of the U represents our participation in our salvation
through faith, hope and love.
God arranges FAITH so we can please God and draw near to Him.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God..." (Heb 11:6)
Faith begins in us when we believe in Jesus and thus we are able to follow Him better than we know. Through faith
we realize there is something real to look forward to beyond this life here - which is
very temporary and full of false expectations..
He gives us a living HOPE (1Pe 1:13) which does not disappoint us (Rom
5:2). Through faith plus our desire to be with the One who loved us and gave Himself
for us (Gal 2:20), we seize this hope in Christ. Anyone who is actually living this
way; denying themselves and hoping completely in Christ, is not grasping for this life and
"loving their life in this world" (Jn 12:25). They are putting all their
trust in Jesus completely where it belongs.
Those who actually are hoping in God are then able to obey Jesus' greatest command which
is to LOVE God and love one another gladly as He loved them. (Jn
13:34) They are therefore fulfilling God's original plan for their salvation by
obeying His will and so proving to be His disciples. (Jn 15:8)
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The Church of Bible Understanding
1300 South 58th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19143
1-800-223-2360
churchofbibleunderstanding@worldnet.att.net
