To the Christian who has experienced this efficacious, lavish outpouring of amazing grace from the Holy Spirit will look to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and see the wisdom and glory and power of God though it be foolishness to those who are perishing. Be encouraged: The same grace that saved is the same grace that preserves and the Holy Spirit who breathed new life into you at the first will keep you alive in Christ until we see Him face to face.

Irresistible grace is the fourth part of the Tulip acronym and is the one doctrine of grace that every Christian, deep down, can never deny. No Christian will balk in a Sunday morning worship service when the congregation sings Amazing Grace (written by John Newton, a Calvinist pastor of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century) because every Christian knows that it was the amazing grace of God that saved us and, if not for this astonishing grace from the Lord, we would be eternally lost. It is, in fact, foundational in understanding the other four doctrines of grace. If election is thought of as the work of the Father, and atonement thought of as the work of the Son, then grace must be thought of as the work of the Holy Spirit.[1] It His divine task to efficaciously draw the sinner to Christ.
Salvation is a Trinitarian work, expressed best within the Covenant of Redemption. This Covenant of Redemption is implicitly understood from such passages as John 6:37 and 44, John 17, Ephesians 1:10-11, and many others. The basis of this teaching is that, from eternity past, the Father covenanted with the Son and Spirit, planning salvation, and promising an elect number of people from His creation as a gift and Bride to His Son in an arranged marriage. The Son covenanted with the Father and the Spirit and promised to incarnate as a man and redeem the elect, that He would then have a perfect Bride, not having any spot of sin or wrinkle of unholiness but declared perfectly holy and righteous through union with Him (Eph. 5:25-27). The Spirit covenanted with the Father and the Son, promising to efficaciously draw the elect to Christ through the preaching of the Gospel, and to seal them with an eternal seal until the day of their glorification (Eph. 1:13-14). It is within this framework of the Covenant of Redemption that the doctrines of grace are properly understood.
Man, who is dead in his trespasses and sins, is unable to come to Christ of his own accord; his will is stubbornly opposed to the things of God. Yet, God has elected a certain number from the human race to come to the Son, and the Son has already procured salvation for that elect number. Not a drop of Christ’s redeeming blood can be wasted.
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The Chinese government is exploiting the unique ability women have to become pregnant and bring new life into the world. It is doing this to destroy—at least in part—the Uyghur people. Beijing’s abuses against Uyghur women are one of the most significant human rights crises of our time, and we should be talking about that.

Last week, an independent tribunal in the United Kingdom released a judgment that found the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghur people to be consistent with the legal definition of genocide. Multiple governments have made the same pronouncement, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Belgium. But these countries didn’t release their legal reasoning or factual evidence. The Uyghur Tribunal did—and it is Beijing’s abuses against Uyghur women specifically that resulted in the tribunal’s judgment.
Days of public hearings featured witness and expert testimonies, and a team of international human rights lawyers, professors, and NGO leaders combed through the evidence. The evidence uncovered was then measured against the legal definitions of crimes against humanity, torture, and genocide. The Chinese government was found guilty on all three counts.
The suppression of the Uyghur ethnic and religious minority is nearly all-encompassing. High-tech surveillance watches their every move. Passports are systematically confiscated. At least 1.8 million Uyghurs are held in internment camps, and both detained and “graduated” Uyghurs are used as a source of forced labor. No Uyghur person escapes the consequences of Beijing’s brutal crackdown in the Xinjiang region. Even children are sent to be raised in state-run boarding schools. Yet, notably, the weight of China’s genocide is targeted toward women.
The Uyghur Tribunal determined that China was “imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group,” one of the methods of genocide outlined in the 1948 Genocide Convention. Earlier this year, the U.S. government came to the same conclusion.
Women bear the brunt of Beijing’s violent birth control policies in Xinjiang. One woman who worked at a hospital in Xinjiang in the late 1990s told the Uyghur Tribunal that approximately 100 women came for abortions every day, most sent by the government’s Family Planning Office and many in the late stages of pregnancy. She said that the aborted babies were disposed of in a garbage basket. Even after the end of China’s notorious one-child policy (and subsequent two-child policy), authorities in Xinjiang target Uyghur women for harsh sterilization and forced abortion policies.
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Work is not only a positive and creative activity it is also an antidote to destructive behavior and activity.  More crime is conceived in an atmosphere of idleness than in the work arena.  The Apostle Paul recognized the benefit of work when he wrote: “Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good. . .” (Ephesians 4:28).

Unlike many European nations which observe May Day as an international labor day, both the United States and Canada honor labor on the first Monday of September.  Ironically, whether the celebration be for May Day or Labor Day, both holidays are celebrated by ceasing from the very activity, i.e., work, for which the holiday is named.
For most, Labor Day is celebrated by playing or resting rather than by working.  In a way, we have forgotten how honorable work or labor is.  Many would like to hit some kind of a jackpot in hopes of being able to quit working.  Work or labor is considered, for the most part, a necessary evil.  Returning to the work force on Monday mornings has caused Monday to be one of the least loved days of the week.  Even the rush hour traffic on Monday mornings is slower.  No one is in a hurry to get back to work.  There may be a T.G.I.F. (Thank God It’s Friday) Day; be assured there will never be a T.G.I.M. (Thank God It’s Monday) Day!
In our leisure-loving world, we have lost sight of the fact that work, no matter how menial it may appear or how risky it may be, is honorable.  One of the problems facing Great Britain is that of enticing workers off the national dole to job openings, which neither pay well nor appear glamorous.  In the US, workfare has faced an uphill battle.  However, those of us who are fortunate and blessed enough to escape the need for the safety net of either welfare or the national dole must guard against a “holier than thou” attitude and exhibit compassion for the plight of those who are unable to work for one reason or another.
Work is not only a positive and creative activity it is also an antidote to destructive behavior and activity.  More crime is conceived in an atmosphere of idleness than in the work arena.  The Apostle Paul recognized the benefit of work when he wrote: “Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good. . .” (Ephesians 4:28).
It must not be forgotten that work came before the fall, not after it. “. . . by the sweat of your brow. . .” came after sin entered the picture. Had there been no sin and no fall from grace, we would still be working today.  After running up and down a terrace mowing my lawn and pulling weeds with perspiration flowing from my brow into my eyes and over my cheeks, I relish the thought of work as it was before the fall!
The Apostle Paul goes one step further and recommends work not only as an antidote to a life of crime, he also raises it above a self-centered activity to one of compassion towards others, “. . . performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need” (Ephesians 4:28). What a different world this would be if all of us who work incorporated the purpose of sharing with those in need.  In fact, we could organize and form a corporation called “For Others, Incorporated.”  Those who prefer to continue working only to advance their own interests could also organize themselves into a firm called, “For Self Only, Limited.”  “For Others, Inc.” is, of course, preferred for the company of believers.
Work is not only honorable, but it also affords an opportunity to be compassionate.  Let us, as Christians, seek to raise work to its highest level as a constructive, creative activity, and a compassionate outlet.  As we begin each new workday, may our morning horizon be that of the Psalmist:
Let thy work appear to thy servants,And thy majesty to their children.And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;And do confirm for us the work of our hands;Yes, confirm the work of our hands. (Psalm 90: 16, 17)  
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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