A Grace Awakening
Last week I began talking about the theme we will focus on and develop this year. I want to continue our discussion on the issue of grace. If you haven’t read last week’s devotion, I encourage you to read it before diving into this one. Every day of every month of every year we should be living by grace. Grace is the heart of the gospel, and it is intended to be at the center of every day of our lives. What does it look like to live by grace?
Two quotes that have been foundational for my understanding of grace were written by Jack Miller. I am sure you have heard me mention them before. The first quote is, “Cheer up! You are worse than you think you are.” The second one is like it, “Cheer up! the gospel is far greater than you could imagine.” (See, I do remember some things I read.) Why are these so important? The first quote is hard for us to accept but it is true. We are far worse than we imagine. Sin is so pervasive and so insidious that we don’t recognize but a fraction of the sins we commit. I’m not talking about going out and committing grossly obvious sin. But we have “refined sins” (great book too by Jerry Bridges), such as pride, selfishness, and envy. We quietly judge others and think we are better than them. If we paused to think of every stray thought or unchecked emotion, we would be overwhelmed by the reality of our sin.
This isn’t always a bad thing provided you also remember Jack Miller’s second quote. “The gospel is far greater than we imagine.” This is what should blow us away. Jesus did not come to make good people better. His plan was not a personal improvement regimen. It wasn’t to just clean us off a little bit. We were vile, nasty, rebellious sinners who were only thinking of ourselves. He is the one who invaded our space and opened our blinded eyes. He is the one who caused us to see the wickedness of our sin and the beauty of the cross. He is the one who showed us the infinite value of Christ’s death on the cross for our sin. There is no sin that is greater than Christ’s provision on the cross. All our sins, even if we put them all together from the beginning of our lives to the end, is just a drop in the bucket compared to the forgiveness of Christ’s death on the cross. We don’t have to pretend we aren’t sinners and don’t need grace today.
This is why we need a grace awakening today. We still fall short of God’s standard of holiness. Because we still have indwelling sin (Paul’s words not mine), even our best efforts are mingled with selfish desires and sinful intentions. Because our good works as Christians are mingled with grace, they are pleasing to God. But just because they are pleasing to God does not mean that we have completely pure motives. Even our best efforts are only pleasing to God because of his grace. We are in constant need of grace. When we are good, it is because of God’s grace. When we sin, we repent and ask for forgiveness because of God’s grace. When we don’t feel we measure up, we remind ourselves of God’s grace. He loves us, not because of what we have done (or what we are doing), but because of what Jesus has done. His love is a perfect love.
When we know how loved we are, and we are living out of God’s grace we will love others the same way and show them the same grace that we have received. We can see our sin for what it is because we see the depth of the cross. We all need a grace awakening.
