Thursday, May 20, 2010

A Grace You Must Know!

Sup e-fellas! I'm going a day early because I just felt like sending this out today. Hope y’all are doing great! I’m continuing from last week, speaking some grace. Like I said before grace is given, it is free. We don’t obligate God by our obedience or our sacrificial service. Even if we were perfectly obedient in all our Christian duties, we would still be forced to say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty” (Luke 17:10). In a somewhat loose way of relating it, it is like always going the speed limit, stopping at stop signs, and obeying every traffic rule. Do you receive any reward from the state or even expect it? No, because that is what you are supposed to do.

Grace can be completely misunderstood at times, and I admit, I do it often. But, grace relieves us from the performance treadmill. “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” (Romans 6:1). No way dude, this and other passages in the Bible recognize the possibility that the Bible’s teaching that grace alone is the basis for God’s blessing can be misconstrued as an excuse for indulgent, slothful living. So what are you compelled by then to obey?

The solution to the problem is not to add legalism to grace. Rather the solution is to be so gripped by the magnificence and boundless generosity of God’s grace that we respond out of gratitude rather than out of a sense of duty. Our "motivation" for commitment, discipline, and obedience is as important, if not more important, to God than our "performance". God searches our hearts fellas, and He understands every motive. To be acceptable to Him, our motives must spring from a love for Him and a desire to glorify Him. Obedience to God performed from a legalistic motive – that is, a fear of consequences or to gain favor with God – is not pleasing to Him. So, our good works are not truly good unless they are motivated by a love for God and a desire to glorify Him.

Only when we are thoroughly convinced that the Christian life is entirely of grace are we able to serve God out of a grateful heart. See, it’s not about inclination or feeling. We are not to wait till we “feel like” having a quiet time to have one, the same goes with obeying God’s commands. Motive has nothing to do with feelings or inclination; rather, it refers to the “reason” why we do, or don’t do, something. For the person living by grace, that reason should be a loving response to the abundant grace of God already manifested in Christ.

I’ve struggled in this area all my life and continue to do so, feeling like I just abuse grace. Like you have heard numerous times before, hearing and reading it is one thing, actually doing or living it is another. And if you are like me in this area, know this, God is worthy of our loving obedience because of who He is, not because of what He does. But when we truly understand the grace of God in Christ, we will not abuse that grace.


trying to die to myself,

-tmart



3 comments:

Tanner said...

Todd, solid work so far on Grace. It is so apparent how our pride attempts so cheapen God's grace. I love the speed limit analogy because how often in our walk do we expect rewards for obeying? How out of line that is! Thanks again for your work thus far on grace. Look forward to reading more from you in the future.

- Terry

Matt said...

Good work TMart!!!

Jules said...

Nicely laid out. A scripture that plays into this post is Galatians 6:7 "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked." Oh how many times I've mocked God with my actions, so glad he extends His grace.