The Hardest Lesson

Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor

What is the hardest lesson in the Christian life? Immediately some people think of the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, and worship. Others think of sharing their faith with unbelievers. First, a person must know the right things to say then he must overcome his fear of failure or rejection and step out to talk to an unbeliever. Maybe, in these trying financial times, it is in the area of giving. More and more money is going to basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and gas for the car to get to work. All of these are good answers but none of them are the hardest lesson in the Christian life. So, what is?

I think the hardest lesson in the Christian life is living by grace every day. We by nature are performance oriented. We know that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone. We also know that our final destiny is not determined by our performance but our genuine rest in the finished work of Christ. But between salvation and glorification we often think the Christian life depends on us. We feel like God is up in sky judging our behavior and responding accordingly. If we have our devotions and have a reasonably good day then God will bless us, but if we mess up and give in to sin or don’t practice a spiritual discipline, then God is going to punish us or at least leave us to our own devices and not intervene with grace.

The same gospel that saved me is the exact same reason why God loves me today! He loves me because I am in Christ. I have become his child and he has made me the object of his affection. He lavishes his love on me and does not treat me as my sins deserve. Grace means God is good to us even when we don’t deserve it. Because his wrath was fully poured out on Christ there is no wrath left for us who are in Christ. God only deals with us out of love. The spiritual disciplines are good and God, by his grace, uses them in our lives to grow. When we are obedient, we express our love for him. When we rely on the resurrected Christ living in us to do good works, God is pleased with them. But none of these is the reason why he loves us! The reason why he loves us is because he chose us, called us, and placed us in Christ by grace alone!

What does this mean practically? It means that we need to focus on the gospel and get off the cycle of guilt, shame, and working harder. We are motivated by grace to do good works. We love because he first loved us. We do what he has placed before us to do and don’t feel like we must do everything. Whether or not I had a great devotion, my Heavenly Father loves me. Whether or not I prayed or shared the gospel or did other spiritual disciplines, my Heavenly Father loves me. His love is perfect. My obedience doesn’t increase his love and my sin does not diminish his love.

Here’s the beauty of it, the more you realize you are loved by grace and that you are the object of his affection, the more you will want to live a holy life and do all these other things. It is the love of Christ that compels us. Not our love for him, but his love for us! When we realize that we are forgiven, accepted, and loved completely and we don’t have to work to receive it or work to maintain it that frees us to live by grace. We find a freedom and a lightness and a peace that we didn’t know even existed. We stop worrying about what others think of us because we know what our Father thinks of us. We can admit our sin and our shame because we know all of that has been paid by Christ. The hardest lesson in the Christian life is to rely on the gospel every day.