“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you. Let Me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.’” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)
My wife and I were just beginning our long trip to a new home several states away. I was driving a 26’ Rental truck filled to the brim with everything we could cram in it, plus pulling a trailer with my car on it. My wife was following in her car. A few miles into our trip something didn’t feel right. Having been in this scenario a few times prior I could sense that something wasn’t right.
Pulling over at the first opportunity I began to check the tires on the truck, then the trailer. The trailer upon which my car rested had four tires, one was almost flat. We returned to the rental place, and they quickly resolved the problem by replacing the flat tire, but what if I’d assumed everything was okay and continued my journey? What if I’d assumed the rental company had been thorough and made sure all the tires were in good shape? How do you spell DISASTER!
Yet, on many levels that’s exactly how some treat their own lives as they begin their journey with Jesus. They wrongly assume because the grace of God has provided their forgiveness and given them a new life at no cost to them, then basically, doesn’t that mean they can continue to live as they always have and God will be good with it?
What’s going on here? They are presuming on the grace of God to accomplish something the Bible never promises it will. Yes, the Bible does say in Romans 8:1: “So now there no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to Him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” But a few verses later Paul also explains: “Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die.”
When we think like that we presume on the grace of God to do what God never promised or intended for His grace to do. Grace is a free, unmerited favor of God given out of love to accomplish something in and for us that we could never accomplish on our own merit, but when we presume on that grace to accomplish our own purposes, as Paul describes above, death results.
Burk Parsons, who may himself have made some presumptions about the grace of God, put it this way: “The difference between presuming on the grace of God and resting in the grace of God is the difference between heaven and hell.” Do we sin as true believers? Yes, especially it seems as new believers, but once we gain some measure of maturity our habitual sin patterns should be harnessed by the Spirit. Does that mean we can never sin again? Of course not, we will live with our sin nature as long as we’re in our earthly body, but to the extent we yield our will to God’s, to that extent our need to sin will be limited.
God’s grace will not only provide for our initial salvation, which frees us from all past sins, but provides provision through His grace for all future sins, but when we wrongly assume that gives us a license to continue to sin freely without any fear of consequence, we reveal with clarity that we were never really saved in the first place.
It’s one thing to rest in God’s favor. It’s quite another to presume on His grace.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 
Well said! Thanks Ed. Steve
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