Who needs more Grace

I having been writing about our need to live life in the shadow of the cross. How it is so easy to drift so far from the cross that we can't even see that it is our ongoing sin that causes us to still need the forgiveness that He purchased on the cross. It is the same pridefulness that causes us to know that we were saved by grace, but think we can become like Christ by working real hard at it (be sanctified by our works). Totally failing to recognize that it will be the gracious work of God that will change our lives more and more into the image of Christ. We grow as Christians to think we are no longer in need of the grace of God in our lives.

While chewing on all of this that has been covered in my previous blogs, I am left pondering the question. Who should profess a greater ongoing need for the grace of God in their life? The person who is just trusting in Christ for the first time or the person who understood their need at salvation, but has now tried to work out their becoming more like Christ with greater confidence in their own abilities and works. What I am getting at is the question of who should profess greater need to receive from God the very thing they could never deserve. Is it the person who walked far away from the cross who has seen it up close previously, or the person who has never seen it up close. Who is in a greater need of grace?

(Lk 12:47-48) 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Look at it from the perspective of Jesus treatment of different people. Was he not harshest on the pharisees because they had already received so much grace and then turned away from it. You might be thinking that they didn't receive grace they received the law. Was it not by grace that God chose the Israelites to be the people that He revealed himself to and through. Their receiving the revelation of God was the greatest demonstration of grace prior to Christ's death on the cross. So who needed more grace the pharisee who had already been entrusted with much grace but did not act according to His will or the gentile who did not know?

I know it is like discussing which is greater infinity or infinity plus one. The grace meter is maxed out for both. But I am trying to come through a window that is even hard for our prideful hearts to close. Closed to the point we are not humbled by the grace that we Christians have already been shown. That window is that those who have been shown much grace, immeasurable grace in fact, fail to show grace towards others while still needing grace in their own lives.

We see this demonstrated all throughout scripture and life. The story in Matthew 18 of the person who owed the king ten thousand talents (An unpayable debt). He was shown mercy and grace, but then fails to show mercy and grace to the person who owes him 100 shillings. His need for being shown mercy and grace is now even greater than before because he didn't appreciate what was done for him to the point it gripped his life. Are we not like this person when we have been saved by grace and then act as though we no longer need grace? When we struggle to show grace to others. When we puff ourselves up with pride convincing ourselves that God must be impressed with our works. When we struggle to share the gospel of God's grace with others and our lives are not gripped by the mercy and grace we have been shown. When we fail to live in such a way that points back to His mercy and grace that He showed us. Are we not in need of greater grace.

• Romans 5:20-21 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

As believers entrusted with the gospel of God's grace through Jesus Christ and having moved away from this point, are we not the ones in need of the greatest amount of grace! I am convicted by the fact that I was entrusted with the gospel by an incredible act of mercy and grace. Yet often my response to this is to struggle to share the gospel with others. That God would be so moved to choose me as his instrument of grace and continue to work on my prideful heart that is so prone to wandering away and not sharing mercy and grace with others.

The answer to my question that I am left with is....it is me. For I know the father's will and often do not act according to His will. I have seen the cross and then walk further away from it. I have received the gospel and act as though I have not often. Ouch!!!

Lord, I pray that I would in your mercy and grace be brought back to the foot of the cross today. That I would be forced to face the shear magnitude of mercy that was shown to me by Christ taking on the full punishment of my sin. That I would be gripped by the grace of God that Christ, the son of God, left heaven to die in my place, that He might live through my life through the power of the Holy Spirit I have so graciously received. Lead and direct my steps today that I might be a doer of your incredible will. Have mercy on me, that I might be a good steward of your mercy. Please show me more of your grace that has already been entrusted to me, that I might show it to others according to your will.

Our greatest friend and foe

If you are like me, you struggle with being self reliant throughout the course of your day. It is easy to hit the ground running and not be fully dependent upon Christ working in and through me each day. Especially when I am doing something that I have done many times before and I pretty much know what to expect. Maintaining a mindset and lifestyle of dependence on Christ is a struggle for me.

It is cool when pieces of the puzzle come together. I started reading C.J. Mahaney's book, "Humility: True Greatness" and started to see more of my struggle as being the symptoms of pride. In the book Mahaney quoted John Stott's definition of pride as being "contending for the supremacy of God." God has used that to reveal how my pride tries to separate me from the Lord and His Grace as I contend for the supremacy of God in my own life. Isaiah 66:1-2 Thus says the Lord: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. My greatest foe really is my pride and my greatest friend is humility before Christ.

I had already seen that God's grace eliminates the opportunity for pride. If we receive that which we don't deserve, then how can anyone but the Lord receive the credit and glory. Pride and grace cannot coexist, and thus Grace eliminates pride. I thought I understood this, but I didn't see the other side of the coin, that my pride was trying to eliminate grace. As I contend for the supremacy of God I am also trying to eliminate my "need" for grace. When I begin my day self reliant and not trembling at His word, I am trying to eliminate my "need" for grace. When I attempt so many things in my own strength I have already eliminated my "need" for grace. That is probably why every religion that has every been created by man is based on works not grace. Our pride works deceptively on our hearts and minds to lead us down the path where we seek self sufficiency and satisfaction apart from the grace given fellowship with Christ. No wonder Paul writes in Romans 7, what a wretched man I am, who can save me from this body of death. He saw clearly all that he was able to take credit for was his pride.

That brings me to the next 2 by 4 that I was hit with. I recognize that I struggle with pridefulness that shows itself in different ways when "real sin" shows up in my life. So often I determine that the solution to this sin problem is ME doing more, trying harder, doubling down on my efforts. What a joke! My pride of self reliance and contending for the supremacy of God in my life is going to be solved by.....greater self reliance and determination? It is like having a major cut on my leg that was a self inflicted wound and trying to solve this problem by making a bigger cut higher up the leg with the same knife to stop the bleeding. Well the lower cut will stop bleeding, but I now have a bigger problem that is an even greater threat to take my life. I am in desperate need of God's grace and my pride often places God in the position of opposing me instead of giving grace. Opposing my spiritual adultery/self worship that separates me from the very thing that I need the most.....The Grace of God working to conform me more into the image of Christ.

I am left with the words of John the Baptist that I must decrease and he must increase! By God's grace, I pray that there would be less of me and more of Him for the world to see today to the praise of His glorious grace...........that none may boast.