Living by Grace

Ever heard the phrase living by grace? Have you ever struggled with what that means for Christians on the path to maturity in Christ? I do; every day. I struggle with what it means and how to apply it to my life; I struggle with, is that what we are really doing in our churches? Now I do understand there will be critics out there that will say where I am about to head is a slippery slope that living by grace might be taken too far; that as Paul writes in Romans 5; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more.

So should we go on sinning so that grace might increase? As Paul answered; By no means! So where does that leave us as we struggle with this concept of living by grace? I think Jerry Bridges says it so well in his book; Transforming Grace. In it he says; “The solution to this problem is not to add legalism to grace. Rather, the solution is to be so gripped by the magnificence and boundless generosity of God’s grace that we respond out of gratitude rather than sense of duty.”

He then quotes Steve Brown, former pastor of Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church; “The problem isn’t that we made the gospel too good. The problem is that we didn’t make the gospel good enough.” Isn’t that an amazing thought? We don’t give God’s grace the understanding and right standing it deserves; a position where we are “gripped” by its magnificence; a position where we never take the grace of God for granted responding out of loving gratitude.

What I worry about, what I wonder about, what I struggle with is how are we as Christians living by grace and sharing this “good news”? Are we so concerned about taking this gift of grace for granted that we begin to add requirements for living by grace? Is that where our teaching, sharing and even preaching is headed?
Bridges adds to this thought; “We have loaded down the gospel of the grace of God in Christ with a lot of “oughts”. “I ought to be more committed, more disciplined, more obedient.” When we think or teach this way, we are substituting duty and obligation for a loving response to God’s grace…Steve Brown was right. We often don’t make the gospel good enough. We preach grace to the non-Christian and duty to the Christian.”

Is that where we are headed? Or can we by grace come to grips with this indescribable gift and give the grace of God its’ proper position. Bridges points out that as Christians we do have a duty and obligation to God, but that our motivation should not be fear, rather our motivation should be sincere, loving gratitude for the mercy of God through Christ.

Martin Luther once wrote, “A lawdriver insists with threats and penalties; a preacher of grace lures and incites with divine goodness and compassion shown to us; for He wants no unwilling works and reluctant services, He wants joyful and delightful services of God.

To live by the grace of God is an amazing thing, a comforting thing, a hopeful thing. Don’t you think that as we begin to see and understand this thing called grace, that as we begin to live in this thing called grace, our excitement should build, our loving gratitude should over come us and we should shout from the rooftops about the grace of our God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! As we read in 2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

God, may we all begin to recognize this amazing gift of grace and may we all be gripped by the magnificence of your grace. May we all endeavor out of loving gratitude to share the gospel message of grace; Abba, Father, we love you.

Grace and Peace be yours in abundance!