Bible Values and
Principles

When we walk under the Grace of our Lord Jesus, we become less and less sin conscious, and more and more righteousness conscious which our Lord has purchased for us by His finished work on the cross.

In Genesis 15:6 when Abraham believed the Lord, his faith was counted for righteousness by the Lord. But what did the Lord tell Abraham? and what did Abraham believe? Apostle Paul reveals this answer to the Galatians:

"And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed" - Galatians 3:8

When the Lord preached the Gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ to Abraham, he believed in it, and the Lord declared Abraham righteous. This is exactly what the Lord does to us today, when we have faith in the Gospel. The Lord declares us righteous through Christ, hence we are saved by "Grace through Faith", just like Abraham.

Prophet Balaam, who was a corrupt man, and was serving as a prophet to the people of Israel, was asked by king Balak, who was a Moabite king (gentile / non Jew), to curse the people of Israel. He was willing to pay a huge amount of money to the prophet to curse the people of Israel. When the prophet stood on a high place to pronounce his curse over Israel, he instead started to pronounce blessings upon them, because the Lord put words in his mouth. When he was questioned by king Balak, the prophet replied saying:

"How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?" - Numbers 23:8

If the Lord did not impute sin on the people whose sins were covered by the blood of bulls and goats, how is it possible for the Lord to impute sin upon us who are under the eternal Blood of His Son Jesus? The Bible says:

"Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" - Romans 4:8

When we read the Bible, we would notice that our Lord Jesus never ever said, your law keeping has saved you. He has always complimented a person saying "your faith has saved you". As a believer in Christ, when our faith is rooted on the foundations of the Word of the Lord, that we are saved by "Grace through Faith" (Ephesians 2:8) and we are "the righteousness of God through Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:21), we would be able to lead a quality life, and would be much fruitful in the society which we live in today. The Bible says:

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." - 2 Peter 1:5-9

The first thing Grace does to us is that, we develop a teachable heart. We become open to correction, and we tend to learn from our mistakes. When we are conscious of our righteousness in Christ, we would be confident that our mistakes will not make us fall out of fellowship with God, as He is within us through His Holy Spirit, and He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

We will begin to thank people very often in reflection to the Lord's work on the cross for us. For example, when a security guard holds a door open for us in our schools, colleges, offices, etc., we would tend to thank him. In other words, we would begin to appreciate even the smallest things in our life. Sometimes we would not even mind holding the door open to others. All of this is the result of us acknowledging the Lord's Grace upon us and our justification by faith.

Our conversations would be more positive and productive, and we would refrain from using profanity in our language. Under the law, it is possible for a man or a woman to stay away from committing adultery, and yet not love their spouse, as one of the commandment says "thou shall not commit adultery". The law only tells us what we should not do. When we are under Grace, we would be fruitful in our relationship with others. Husband and wife would very often say thanks to each other. In case they have an argument, they would have no problem forgiving each other because, they would always be conscious of the Lord's righteousness upon them. They would have realized and developed an attitude that if the Lord can forgive them abundantly, why can't they forgive each other abundantly? The Bible says:

"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" - Ephesians 4:32

Children belonging to such parents would be blessed. When we see happy children, we would know it is because they belong to happy parents.

Being under the Lord's Grace, and having been imputed His righteousness upon us, we would always strive towards excellence. We would stop trying to be the first and start being excellent instead, because the Lord's Grace would move us towards leading a quality life, and we would always end up giving all the glory to God. When we are under the law, we would give glory to ourselves saying it was our hard work. Whereas when we are under the Lord's Grace, we would always give glory to God.

The law gives glory to man as it is all about man's work. Grace gives all the glory to God and no glory to man, as Grace is a gift based on His finished work on the cross.

There are several examples of great men and women from the Bible, who started ordinary, but reigned in excellence, all because they completely depended on the Lord. King Solomon was the wisest and the richest king who ruled Israel. During his 40 years of reign as King, Israel never had any battles or wars, and the land experienced peace for 40 years. King Solomon had asked the Lord to bless him with wisdom. He had a teachable heart and his character was par excellent. He was humble enough to hear the problems of his people who were common men and women, and would counsel them with wisdom. He was known for his wisdom throughout the land. King Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, and it is full of the Lord's wisdom. The book of Proverbs was written to modern man, as it contains 31 chapters, one for each day to read, meditate, and reflect upon. This shows that the Lord goes before us and prepares everything in advance. The Bible says:

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding" - Proverbs 9:10

Queen Esther is another example from the Bible who was open to counsel and correction. When the Persian King Ahasuerus was looking for a bride for himself, and asked the women in the land to present themselves before the king, by making use of any cosmetics in his kingdom, Esther went to Hegai, the king's chamberlain, and submitted to his counsel. The Bible says "the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight" (Esther 2:17).

The Lord told prophet Jeremiah to go to the potter's house (Jeremiah 18), where he saw the potter making a pot. Whenever the pot did not come out in good shape, the potter tried once again until the vessel came in good shape. The Lord, being the potter, and we being the clay, He will try over and over again to get our character in good shape, but He will never throw away the clay. Jesus says:

"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one" - John 10:28-30

Apostle Peter who started off as a fishermen and became a "fisher of men" had a heart for the Lord. The Grace of Christ made him go on his knees, but when he depended on his own love for the Lord, and his own works, he ended up denying the Lord three times. In the end when the Lord asked him to feed His sheep, Peter had developed a teachable heart, and was humble enough to listen to the Lord.

Apostle Paul who was a Grace preacher, proclaimed himself to be the chiefest of the apostles to the Corinthian Christians in 2 Corinthians 11:5. During his walk with the Lord, as he got to know the Lord's Grace by the Word, he was humbled, where he ended up calling himself the chiefest among sinners in his letter to Timothy (1 Timothy 1:15). Grace produces true repentance.

If the Lord blesses us when we are good and righteous, and abandons us when we sin, then that becomes a conditional love. The Bible speaks about the Lord's Grace and His unconditional love for us. Grace is undeserved and unmerited favor. Being under the Grace of our Lord Jesus, we would have the humility to learn from our mistakes, because when we are under Grace, we would be confident that He will never leave us nor forsake us. The Lord honors a sincere heart. He even turns our mistakes into miracles when we are sincere in our mistakes. We will be able to develop a teachable heart and look forward for His Wisdom and guidance when we become more and more familiar with the voice of the Lord from His Word. Jesus says:

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" - John 10:27

How can we become familiar with His voice? It is by reading and meditating upon His Word. In the school of our Lord Jesus, everyone gets through, everybody is a winner, because He comes down to our level of understanding to train us, for He is the Good Shepherd. He is the Lion and the Lamb. When we keep our eyes on our Lord Jesus, His Grace will move us, and will help build our lifestyle based on Bible values and principles, where we would be able to lead a quality life in all its fullness and in excellence, and shine as a child of the Most High God in the society in which the Lord has planted us.