The truth is that faith comes by hearing, not by deducing through comfortable apprehension of good deeds. An implied gospel is a gospel fail.
From here.
And this, from Sinclair Ferguson:
[R]emember that there isn’t a thing, a substance, or a “quasi-substance” called “grace.” All there is is the person of the Lord Jesus — “Christ clothed in the gospel,” as Calvin loved to put it. Grace is the grace of Jesus. If I can highlight the thought here: there is no “thing” that Jesus takes from Himself and then, as it were, hands over to me. There is only Jesus Himself.
From here.
Both timely words, the first one because i definitely thought that St. Francis' supposed words were true ('Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary use words')-- and i think i liked that phrase because it validated a cowardly life under the guise of 'preaching the gospel without words'. However, my personal experience is the opposite--Jared Wilson has it right, and Tebow has it right too. And so the way i'm living needs to change. Radically.
The second is timely because i'm realising that i know very little about grace. I thought i wrapped my head round the concept of grace for justification three years ago. But what about sanctification? What about the fullness of grace? What about walking in grace, and standing in grace, and really knowing what grace looks like and is??? And the answer is JESUS. "There is only Jesus Himself." i love that. i want that. i LONG for that. i want to know what that looks like 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; at home, work, school, community. For the rest of my life. Praise the Lord that for the Christian, the best is always yet to come.
2 comments:
Hi sister! You're in the right direction. God doesn't expect perfect discipline, He expects our best effort and no excuses for our failures. Just that we get back up and continue on the righteous path and when we fail or fall, "His grace is sufficient." He understands the human nature, He allows for mistakes and expects us to learn from them and not remain in a sin condition. You're doing ok. Keep looking, keep seeking, keep expecting something wonderful around every corner as a Christian. He never promised an easy road, but He promised to walk it with us. God bless you.
"And now I commit you to God and to the message of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all who are sanctified." (Acts 20:31)
It is not only grace that we are saved by, but grace enables us to grow and walk in all that God has promised us. I think the more you ask God about all that grace is and the more you seek it out, the more you'll find it.
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