God's Grace
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” Titus 2:11-12
As I’ve thought about grace over the last several weeks, I’ve become more and more convinced there is something truly special about God’s grace. For the longest time, I understood God’s grace to be the magical element that enabled me to sin without feeling guilty. But I don’t think that is a biblically founded understanding. In reality, God’s grace is the magical element that enables us to live the way God has asked to live, while producing the fruits of the spirit in our lives.
I think there are just a few things that can enable us over the course of our entire lives to live the way God has asked us to: 1] God’s grace, 2] guilt and/or the fear of guilt, 3] the inherent blessings of righteous living (spouse, power, influence, etc.), and 4] self-righteousness. With this in mind, why is grace such a special thing? The reason is that grace is the only motivator that produces the fruits of the spirit in conjunction with our obedient living. No other motivation can bring true, lasting, and growing fruit in our lives and in our spirit.
Since I often struggle with being self-willed, self-righteous, and driven by a fear of guilt, I have to keep a strong watch over the fruit being produced in my life. My tendency is to ignore the warning signs of bitterness, greed, lust, pride, and frustration in my heart; I can’t do that. But if I’m not to ignore the signs in my heart, what do I do? How do I break the pattern and experience God’s grace as the motivator of my life?
Recently, it seems as though God has lifted a veil in my life. I believe the truth is that I must admit and expose the wickedness of my heart to the Lord and to others. Guilt, greed, and self-righteousness hide in the darkness. And to be honest, in my flesh, I’ll never be above these things; in my flesh, I’ll never be any better than I was the day I came to know Christ. I think for most of my Christian walk I assumed that because I was a Christian, I was above being motivated by guilt, greed, and self-righteousness. But it reality, that’s just not true -- I struggle with it more days than not. But as I make a willful decision to expose my heart before the Lord, I’ve seen that God is able to deal with and root out all sorts of bitterness, greed, lust, pride, and frustration.
As these things are exposed before the Lord and dealt with properly, God’s grace remains as the motivator. And apart from his grace, I have no power to live righteously out of a pure heart. And apart from a pure heart, I have no hope of producing or experiencing the fruits of the spirit in my life. But by his grace, life can be much different. A life lived with God’s grace as the fuel is one filled with blood, sweat, tears, hard work, trials, urgency, fierce loyalty, intentionality, boldness, zeal, ruthless love -- yet all of this does not leave you spiritually bankrupt, but refreshed; it doesn’t leave you proud but utterly humbled; it doesn’t leave you bitter, but joyful; it doesn’t leave you torn up, but at peace; and it doesn’t leave you quenched, but thirsty for more. This is why God’s grace is so special; are you experiencing it?
