What's not of God's grace, is not of God. And what's not of God, does not edify or profit the body of Christ... because what's not of God's grace, is a product of fallen man. And what's from man — and for man — has a single purpose... and that is to simply to make man shine. The problem with man shining for man... is that it's an attempt to steal the glory from God. And that my friends is a product of the devil and not a disciple that's experiencing and expressing the grace of God at work within and through them.
Think about it... if man had the capacity to do life, to the glory of God, without the grace of the Lord Jesus and the presence and power of His Spirit... the cross and the filling or influence of the Spirit would not be needed. But they are... because what's not of grace is not of God, but the product of man. And the only thing man can produce of his own is fallen, sinful, deceptive and deadly.
Jeremiah 25 reminds us that God faithfully sent His prophets, time after time, to those living in their rebellion. Two of those prophets that were contemporaries of Jeremiah were Zephaniah and Nahum. We dug into Zephaniah and quickly recognized how easy we corrupt our actions when we fail to draw near to the Lord. The Lord helps us see what's right and what's wrong. And it's most likely not what you're thinking but it does have everything to do with grace.
"...they rose early and corrupted all their deeds." (Zephaniah 3:7)
Let me give some insight based on the context of the chapter and message of Zephaniah.
"...they (consistently) rose early (with an eagerness to get on with their days) and corrupted all their deeds (because…
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