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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.

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