faith in grace

In most evangelical churches across the globe, we are likely to hear of grace through faith in the Son of God. We are less likely, though, to hear about faith in grace. That is one having faith in grace. Not just a belief that grace exists, but, rather, a faith that changes lives. I think faith in grace is something most of us need.

When we fall down, flat on our faces, the hardest thing to do is to actually get back up, dust off our clothes, and wipe the stains off our knees and elbows. Most of the time, people around us have seen us fall and our pride prevents us from continuing on. The other times, we fall by ourselves. In those times alone, we want to wallow in the mud for a while or are so afraid of God's reactions or the reactions of those we know that we can't get up.

What we need is faith in grace. We need to believe that grace is real. We need to believe in a grace that is strong enough, big enough, loving enough and faithful enough to pick us up and clean us. Faith in this kind of grace is essential to the Christian life. Otherwise, we're not going to be able to continue the sojourn after our first fall.

We also need to have faith in the grace of others. Often times, we trust in the grace of God, but we ignore the grace of others. This often leads to a hiding of sin so that no one but me and the Lord know about it. The funny thing is that sin functions best in the dark. If we got away with it once.... Our mind will rationalize anything. The best way to deal with sin is to put it out in the open with those we are doing life with. God tells us to confess our sins to one another. We need to obey.

The hardest thing to getting up is actually getting up. We need greater faith in grace if we are going to live the victorious Christian life that we are saved and [re]created for. We need to trust in the grace of a faithful Savior and in the grace of a faithful family.

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before
--Jon Foreman

Today, I can pretty much guarantee we are gonna fall. We are gonna sin. We are gonna disobey. When it happens, what will our reaction be? Will we wallow in it? Will we be afraid of anyone finding out? Will we try to hide it? I hope that all of the above will never happen. I pray we will get up off the ground, trusting in the grace that has so wondrously saved us, and walk on. Repentant of our past, let us boldly go forth as if today never happened before. I dare you to move.

until Christ is formed in us...

--mike