“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 KJV)
The longer I know, love, and serve the Lord, the greater my sense that we’ve cheapened His grace to mean something it was never intended to mean. In our busyness we tend to take a casual and almost flippant view of a gift Jesus paid with His life to give us. It’s like regardless of what we do or why we do it, our attitude is: “Oh, it’s no big deal, Jesus will cover it with His grace!”
And while that’s technically true, His grace IS sufficient for our every sin, our lack of remorse or regret for our sin, evidenced by our unwillingness to turn from it, gives rise to my doubt as to whether a person really knows Him.
It’s like someone who is unfaithful to their spouse, begs forgiveness, seems remorseful, yet continues to be unfaithful. Is there no line to be drawn? No point beyond which a spouse says “ENOUGH?” And don’t misunderstand, I get that God’s grace has no limits, but I also know that someone who continually is walking away from obedient surrender to the Lord cannot and will not be used of God.
I think of Saul in the Old Testament, God’s chosen one to be the first king of Israel. God used him until he stopped being usable. When he traded God’s will for his own, went his own way, made his own decisions and pretended it was alright with God, he lost favor with God and it ultimately cost him his life.
God alone knows our heart and it’s His decision alone as to what He will do in, through, and on our behalf. Yes, of course, He will forgive us over and over again, just like He did in my life and yours, but at some point, don’t we have to turn the proverbial “corner” and begin to walk with earnest desire to obey and please Him? Yes, of course, we’ll still mess up, but our intent, our goal, our strong desire is NOT to mess up, but to submit to His authority and walk in obedience.
On the other hand, I think of the person who has walked away from God their whole life, hardly giving Him a thought. They pile up misery after misery with all the wrong decisions they make. It may mean prison or incarceration in another type of facility, and from all outward appearances there’s no longer any hope for that person, but because of the grace of God, there’s always hope.
Bob Goff made an insightful observation when he wrote: “If you think your mess-up is bigger than God’s grace, that’s your second mistake.” What’s he saying? You can’t mess up so badly the Lord won’t forgive you if you’re willing to ask. A lot of people whom we think of as deeply spiritual and who have made significant contributions to the Christian Faith and our personal lives, were scoundrels before they came to Christ.
I think of “Saints” like Augustine and C. S. Lewis, to name a few, who lived very ungodly lifestyles before coming to the Lord Jesus, but whom God has used in extraordinary ways to further His eternal purposes. Perhaps the bottom line for me is this: to the extent we take for granted the grace of God, to that extent we’re likely to miss opportunities to be useful to the Father.
When we understand how eternally valuable God’s grace is; when we guard, value, and appreciate the tremendous sacrifice that was made to allow us access to it, then we’ll see more clearly the vileness of our own sin in a new light and learn to hate our sin as we must in order to love and honor the grace that has delivered us from it.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 