The Faith 3 of 6 - Grace, freely given yet costly to have
Posted by Anonymous | | Posted On Friday, July 9, 2010 at 12:04 PM
"Salvation, being a gift from God, sounds too easy."
This is a little late, but it's still imperative we post. The third installment of our series deals with Grace- how it's a free gift that comes with a high cost and how both facets of that sentiment are difficult to humanly comprehend. Admittedly, it is hard to grasp this ethereal concept of God saying, "Oh yeah. I forgive you, and I love you. Psh. Already before you even asked for it, silly.". With that, receiving His Grace comes with some pretty heavy implications.
Grace is a compelling gift that incites us to restore our relationship with God. In addition to being saved, it calls us to go out and do good works in His Name. "We draw upon God's righteousness to perform acts of rightneousness. It's not a benign transaction." Look at it this way with an illustration from Chuck Colson: God's a banker. Faith is our credit card we use to withdraw money. The money is to be used to do righteous things. Does that make sense?
Grace is a compelling gift that incites us to restore our relationship with God. In addition to being saved, it calls us to go out and do good works in His Name. "We draw upon God's righteousness to perform acts of rightneousness. It's not a benign transaction." Look at it this way with an illustration from Chuck Colson: God's a banker. Faith is our credit card we use to withdraw money. The money is to be used to do righteous things. Does that make sense?
It is not enough to just make a public declaration via baptism or to state that we accept Christ. Those things are important, yes, but our lives and our dispositions as Christians must transform to reflect what we claim to believe. Ephesians 2:8-10 reads that, "...it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do".
God calls us to a holy discomfort. As Christians, it is easy to blame Satan. He does work harder the stronger a Christian we are and by any means possible to bring us down. Still, suffering does not necessarily mean "bad". It certainly predisposes us to vulnerability for Satan to sneak in; however, suffering, in and of, itself, is a package deal in being a Christian. It's a test. Although you are suffering, and it feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, do you continue serving Him? As a body of believers, we MUST be able to answer with a resounding, "YES!".
I mean think of Mother Theresa. She suffered. A lot. There were times she was downright depressed, but she still followed God's call. Case and point, there is always hope. As cliche as it sounds, "where there's a will, there's a way". But oh how true that is here! That pain and that path will look different in and of every single person, evidence of how we are not called to judge one another. What is real to one person may not be as emotionally evocative to another. Clearly, not everyone is going to do what Mother Theresa did, but chances are that God's not calling you to do so, not specifically anyway.
On another note, Christianity works as a religion because it's TRUE. Keep in mind that it is NOT the other way around. It is not true because it works. Where else can we find the idea of a relational, loving God that FORGIVES and hence calls us to forgive as well? That being stated, we are Christians regardless of denomination so long as we can agree on one doctrine- THE BIBLE. After all, the early church was one-minded and one-hearted when handed off from the Apostles.
In summation, we, as earthly creatures, strive to earn salvation, something that is justified by faith alone. It's free. Yet, it is not sufficient to say that we are Christians and have recieved God's Grace. We have to do something with it. We are going to experience hard times. Even in times of suffering, we must not stray from the road we have been called to walk. Colson stated in the video that "desparity is a sin because it denies the sovereignty of God". Acknowledge that life sucks; share the burden with others; seek God; and keep moving forward.
I challenge you to read Romans 5:15-17 and Ephesians 2:3-5.
I'll leave you with this. Have you seen the movie Wall-E? I just feel like it illustrates the gift that Grace is and that cost that comes associated with it. Humans have the opportunity to go back to Earth. Although it's mostly desolate, there are signs of life. The captain of the ship, when told they'll never survive says, "I don't want to survive. I want to LIVE!". I LOVE that line. He knows life won't be easy by any means, but it will be fulfilling.
Just like the Christian life. Just like a life with Grace.
Thanks for reading!
Blessings,
Kevin
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