Skip to main content

Grace Does not Make us Lazy

            Have you ever watched two people trying to pass a newborn baby between them?  First, the person trying to take the baby comes in very slowly with their arms extended.  Then other person starts to move the baby away from their body so that there is room enough to make the exchange.  At this point, one or both of the people will usually crouch down just a little bit (I am not sure why we do that).  Then the real fun begins as one person tries to take their hand from under the baby’s head while the other person tries to get theirs in there to support it.  Somehow, someone always ends up caught in the baby blanket and the whole production is accompanied by a conversation that goes something like, “Ok…. I think I have her…. Oops…. Just let me get my arm out”.  For even the most experienced baby holder, it is a production.
                Why do we do that?
                We do it because we realize that this little baby is precious, fragile and really important.  Therefore, we want to be as cautious and careful as we can be.
                When we believe that something is valuable, we handle it with care.
                It is strange to me, then, that so many people handle their faith as carelessly as they do.  We live in a time where it is popular for believers to be “edgy” and any suggestion that there are certain things a believer should and should not do is immediately dismissed as being legalistic.  People like to quote passages that say things like, “[God] saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:5).  Their thinking seems to be, “My actions do not matter because God is gracious and he will forgive whatever I do anyway.”
                However, that same letter also says, “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).  Holiness is important not because it earns us anything, but because it is the appropriate response to the precious gift that we have been given.
                If we really understood God’s grace, we would treat our faith with more care not less.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dark and Light

            When you look out at the world, what do you see?             Some see nothing but trouble and pain.   They point to things like poverty, crime, problems with drugs and alcohol and marriage break-ups and say that the world is full of sadness and sorrow.   Watch the news for even a half hour and you will get the idea that the world is a dark place.             Others see nothing but good.   They appreciate generous people in their community.   They think about their friends and neighbours and smile.   They marvel at the beauty of sunrises and stars at night.   To them, the world is a bright and wonderful place.             You may be surprised that the Bible supports both of these world views.   On one hand it says things like, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the
1 comment
Read more

New Article: Five Words to Improve Your Relationships

                 In the late 1800s, it was common for railway companies to plant formal gardens beside their stations.   These gardens were filled with trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.   Sometimes they also featured a kitchen garden growing lettuce, carrots, corn, and potatoes.   Estevan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Garden was once located where Mid-City Plumbing and Heating is today.                The purpose of these gardens was to show what the land could produce.   After hours and sometimes days of riding across the featureless prairies, the railways wanted to show settlers the potential of their new home.   The gardens showed what was possible and they encouraged the settlers to transform their own land and discover its potential too.                Today’s verse acts similarly, in that it challenges us to find the potential in
Post a Comment
Read more

Forgetting What Is Behind

                   Generalizations are helpful because they show a pattern that is normally true. However, they are also dangerous because they ignore the exceptions to the rule.                  Here is my generalization:   It is a quality of the strong to be able to forget the past and move on.   The apostle Paul summarizes this idea when he states, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Too often, we trip over things that are behind us.   We remember and nurse old hurts.   We rehearse mistakes that no one else recalls.   In doing so, we pull the past into the present and allow it to dictate how we feel right now.   In these cases, we would be better off “forgett
Post a Comment
Read more