“Dissing” God’s Grace?
June 14, 2008
Bible Reading: We then, as workers together with Him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain… 2 Corinthians 6 (New King James Version)
Bonus Readings: St Matthew 13:3-23; Hebrews 2:1-3; 3:7-19 5:12-14; 6:4-8; 1 Corinthians 9:23-25
Ever wanted to quit your post as a Christian? Get away from God’s commands for a while? This was one of the first lessons I learned in the military—if the commander gave you a post to walk—you did it until you were properly relieved. God’s army, the Church, is no different. Our Commander expects us to walk faithfully. Certainly we have some good examples of what happens to those who don’t do what He assigns—Jonah and Jeremiah spring to mind.
God gives us sufficient grace for our needs daily. In 2 Corinthians 6:1, St. Paul, in effect, says, don’t disrespect—“dis”—the grace God has given you. He says don’t receive God’s grace “in vain”—rejecting it in order to nurture frustrations, disappointments, or just plain selfish desires. If we do, we willingly sin—and that places us in a hazardous position “dissing” that Grace and our Lord’s sacrifice.
In The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases the Corinthian passage by saying we’re to walk our posts, alert and unswerving, because “our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details” of our lives.
In other words, God’s power—the strength we need to walk successfully for Him, the testimony we were meant to model – emerges in troubles, hardships, and distresses (2 Cor. 6:4). And here’s the thing—our Enemy, Satan, loves to distract us from our need for God’s grace and convince us we can do it all on our own. That distraction can lead us to drift away from the salvation that comes to us at a great price—and can set us up to willingly choose sin.
No way this is what God has in mind for us. He intends, instead of continuously laying the groundwork of
repenting from sin, for us to grow up in Him. If we have been Christians more than just a short time, we
should be carrying our Faith to others—telling them about how God has changed us—and helping other
Christians to develop Godly life skills by our own example and teaching. This is the mark of a mature
Christian…someone who takes God’s grace seriously. So, what do we do? Of course, we need pray
together that we walk our posts in these uncertain times and not “dis” the grace God gives us.
Contemplative Prayer: “Holy Spirit, help me quiet myself so You can show me how to:
- Receive God’s grace now—It’s written… “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” —2 Corinthians 6:2
- Deal With the Tough Times—“There will be some difficult times in your Christian walk. God won’t necessarily take you out of them, but he’ll always walk you through them.” —2 Corinthians 6:4-10
- See what I’ve Squandered—“Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.” 2 Corinthians 6:1
- Internalize God’s Validation—Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details.
People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly … in hard times, tough times, bad times ….” — 2 Corinthians 6:4
Think about it: “Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. — 1 Corinthians 9:23-25 (New King James Version)
All love in the Beloved,
Chip+
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[...] God’s Grace? Posted in June 14th, 2008 by in Uncategorized “Dissing” God’s Grace? And here’s the thing—our Enemy, Satan, loves to distract us from our need for God’s grace and [...]
[...] God’s Grace? Posted in June 14th, 2008 by in Uncategorized “Dissing” God’s Grace? In other words, God’s power—the strength we need to walk successfully for Him, the testimony we [...]
[...] “Dissing” God’s Grace? 2 Corinthians 6:4. Think about it: “Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. … [...]