I question our practice of painting biblical heroes more heroically than the Bible does. Hiding the faults of our heroes robs us of grace. That’s why the Bible doesn’t hide them.
Why do we want our heroes to be better than they really are? Because we think we are better than we really are. We would see more of God’s transforming grace if we spent more time acknowledging our own failures, just like the Bible does of its heroes.
Luther actually suggested, “God doesn’t need your good works, but your neighbor does.” So when Paul says in Ephesians that “it is by grace you have been saved” it is deeply connected to the work you do in your everyday life. When Paul continues, he goes on to say “for your are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus do good works.” God actually created you to do good.
You simply love your neighbor because they need it, not because they are a means to an end. The good work of God actually frees you to fulfill your calling as you love your neighbor in ordinary ways in your own workplaces, families, and neighborhoods.
Luther wrestled with the idea that God is holy, and that no matter how hard Luther tried, he was a poor, miserable sinner. Martin Luther could not see how a holy, perfect and righteous God would ever forgive and love a sinner like himself. Luther had done everything the church told him to do, he had performed all the rituals, said all the prayers, done the penance, but at the end of it all, he knew that he did not have the ability to produce the kind of life that would please God.
Then came grace.
How much choice does any individual human actually have? We speak of “free will”—but how much of a choice to accept God’s grace does anyone have, given the brainwashing and propaganda to which they are subjected? How much of a choice to accept God’s grace does a young boy in a radicalized Muslim school have?
Being in Christ is a divine invitation to an eternal relationship, open to everyone. But being in Christ is not an automatic, divinely bestowed or imposed gift.
Today’s Throwback Thursday post recalls a very practical and insightful video from Paul Trip and Elyse Fitzpatrick. These two parenting gurus share their wisdom about how belief in a gospel of grace affects our approach to parenting. Learn how to model grace to our children as we relate to them.
In the wake of the news about Robin Williams’ suicide, the issues of mental illness and depression are now on the forefront of many people’s minds. Ann Voskamp has written on of the more grace-filled responses I’ve seen…
I locked lips and heart hard so no one knew about the locked wards and the psychiatric doctors and why my mama was gone and it’s crazy how the stigma around mental health can drive you right insane.
There are some who take communion and anti-depressants and there are those who think both are a crutch.
I have no idea why don’t we call a cease-fire to the constant women wars, stop the missile volley of judgement, subtle and not so subtle, that we hurl across the playgrounds and church foyers and back fences and front porches and screens at each other?
Judging others is a blindfold. Judging others is a blindfold that blinds us to own grime and blinds us to the grace which others are as eligible and entitled to as we are.
If I have loved breathing in grace for me, how can I deny you the same oxygen?
Paul Tripp and Elyse Fitzpatrick discuss how our belief in a Gospel of grace affects our approach to parenting our children. Parents can be liberated from the savior complex. Parents can’t be the savior. Jesus must be. Yet, much of the conventional wisdom about parenting is based on assumptions that parents exist to enforce behavior modification strategies. We can do better than that though. We can demonstrate grace in all the ways we relate to children.
In this video, Dr. R.C. Sproul explains some important theological terms. Theologians distinguish between “common grace” and “saving grace.” Common grace is the idea that there is goodness and benefit given to all mankind in a multitude of ways (e.g. sunshine, rain, air to breathe, etc.). All people are recipients of common grace, regardless of their religious affiliation. Saving grace, on the other hand, is far more nuanced and specific. This is the grace that Paul speaks of that is given as a gift to save those who were perishing. Each of these kinds of grace have big implications for things such as evangelism, mercy ministry, ethics, and so forth. So, pull up a chair, make yourself comfortable, and get schooled in grace. (more…)
This 3 minute video offers a visually stunning representation of the sheer force of grace while a beautiful poem about grace is spoken. Watch, let it sink in, and be thankful for the grace we have in Christ Jesus. (more…)
The message of the gospel—the entire storyline of scripture—is God’s loving pursuit of people who run from him as fast as they can and who live lives unworthy of his love.
That’s why it’s called grace.
But our Sunday school lessons teach us to be good little boys and girls, and God will love us and use us. It’s the total opposite of the gospel. It’s a counterfeit of the worst kind.
Jefferson Bethke released video a few years ago that went viral. In the video, he ranted about how he loves Jesus but hates religion. There is a story behind those statements. Jeff shares his story in this magazine article.
“People lamented that they had tried Christianity, and it didn’t work. But last time I checked, you don’t try Christianity; either your heart has been transformed by Jesus or it hasn’t. But you can try religion. You can try to follow the rules. You can try to climb up to heaven. But all you’ll do is white knuckle your way to religious despair. It won’t work. It never does.”