I don’t know how much I’ve driven in the twenty
years since I got my license, but I do know it’s a lot, what with all those
drives down to the South to visit my family. Here is one thing that has never
varied across the hundreds of thousands of miles: When I take my foot off the
pedal, the car does not speed up. It doesn’t even maintain the same speed.
Instead, from the very moment I take my foot off the accelerator, the car
begins to slow. Allowing the car to coast is inviting the car to stop. It may
take some time, but left on its own, it will stop eventually. It is inevitable.
I’ve been thinking about this lately because I see
in my own life a tendency to coast—to coast in my relationships, to coast in my
pursuit of godliness, to coast in my pursuit of God himself. And here are some
things I’ve observed:
I do not coast toward godliness, but selfishness.
I do not coast toward self-control, but rashness.
I do not coast toward a love for others, but
agitation.
I do not coast toward patience, but irritability.
I do not coast toward purity, but lust.
I do not coast toward self-denial, but
self-obsession.
I do not coast toward the gospel, but
self-sufficiency.
In short, I do not coast toward Christ, but toward
self. When I stop caring, when I stop expending effort, when I allow myself to
coast, I inevitably coast away from God and godliness. And this is exactly why
I am so deeply dependent upon those ordinary means of grace, those
oh-so-ordinary ways of growing in godliness—Scripture and prayer, preaching and
fellowship, worship and sacrament. The moment those sweet means no longer
appeal is the moment I begin to slow.
Posted by Journey Encouragement at 10:14 PM No
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Grace is Only Grace if it is Without the Input of
Man
The fear-mongering preaching of "Hell
Fire" and "Brimstone" to frighten people into the kingdom of God
is not presenting the Good News of God's Grace,
no matter how hot you deem hell to be.
John G. Lake said it this way; ”There were days
when the Church could club men into obedience by preaching Hell to them, but
that day has long passed. The world has outgrown it.”
Grace seeks people.
Grace saves people.
Grace keeps people.
Grace secures people.
Grace empowers people.
Grace satisfies people.
Grace sanctifies people.
Grace forgives people.
Grace understands people.
Grace frees people
Grace loves people.
Many in Christendom today believe that grace saves,
but to maintain that salvation the keeping of the law, or religious traditions
and rules is our doing. this mixing of grace and law pollutes the purity of
Grace.
Grace has no impurities of man's involvement in
it...Grace is pure....If if a chemist were to describe Grace he would say that
grace is an element, not a compound. In scriptural terms, grace is never a mixture of God's benevolence
and human effort: "Now to the one who works, his wage is not reckoned as a
favor but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him
who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness."
(Romans 4:4-5).
"But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the
basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace" (Romans 11:6).
Grace is entirely the work of God, unprompted by
man, unaided by man undeserved by man but...it is polluted by men who mix Grace
and the Law as call it the Gospel of Grace, and that is a disgrace!
The Law is the standard of righteousness, but Grace
is the source of righteousness. While the Law defines righteousness, only Grace
can deliver it. The Law was never intended to be a means of obtaining Grace; it
was given to demonstrate to men that Grace was desperately needed: "Now we
know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that
every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God;
because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for
through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the
righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the
Prophets" (Romans 3:19-21).
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