Grace..

By faith and grace alone are we saved. Not by any righteous deed can we claim salvation. As Christians this is the truth by which we live. Isaiah said that our righteous acts are like filthy rags before God. John Wesley in his writing mentions that any good work we do is not by our own merit but by the grace of God allowing us to do so. That literally every good work is a gift from God. One line I loved that he wrote was "we will never be able to trust the merit of Christ until we renounce our own."

Bur here is where the problem begins, the understanding of salvation through faith and grace allows men to twist and distort the greatness of God. They take for granted grace and even give themselves license to do as they wish. But hear the words in Hebrews...

"If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Hebrews 10: 26-31 (NIV)

If we, after gaining the knowledge of Christ - through the grace of God - continue to deliberately sin, it says there is no sacrifice for sin. What does that mean? Does it negate the grace which God operates in?

It cannot. After all these are words from the bible, and although it may seem in direct contradiction it is truly not. We are not perfect; that is easy to understand. But here, clearly God states he has some expectations for our lives.

I believe what is being said here is simple. If after receiving salvation through grace, we deliberately abuse and degrade the gift Christ gave us, we are in essence blaspheming God. In the passage it talked of how much more sever the punishment is for those who trample on the Son of Man. Why does he use that imagery? It could be said that, in the act of "trampling on" we are quite vividly rejecting, but also despising the Son of Man. And this is where eternity hits us in the face.

There is heaven, there is hell. One aspect of our lives is living for one of them. Jesus himself said that the way is narrow that leads to life and only few will find it. Some might even say that means the majority of lives are headed to hell - including 'Christians'. Although a fear based doctrine is at the core wrong, the essential knowledge of eternity is needed. Whether we like it or not, there is reward and punishment. And I believe that God is saying, that only by His grace we are saved, but when we, without a repentant heart, purposely abuse his grace, we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Again I say, we are not perfect. So the inevitable sin that we as humans commit is not being referenced here, but rather the disregard for the Cross.

Examine yourself. Do you make choices based out of an abuse of grace, or a thankfulness for it. God is so huge, so paradoxical that we will never understand Him. But heed the words in Hebrews. DO NOT TAKE GRACE FOR GRANTED. If you have, as I have, repent. Make right the relationship with God and go on; strong in the faith.

Be blessed today. May the light of God's face forever shine upon you.