I have been pondering grace, as in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, lately and I have begun to realise how anthropomorphically and selfishly I have regarded His grace. I realised how quickly I make His grace about me and my situation / need / weakness / sin. If we make ourselves the centre of grace, it ceases to be grace. It becomes instead a 'quick fix' to my guilt and shame, only to be put back in the medicine cupboard till I have need of it again. We are not the centre of His grace, His grace does not exist because we exist, His grace exists because He exists. Yes I am a sinner and yes I need His grace but the emphasis should not be on my weakness but on His sheer awesomeness! His grace is not dependent on me, if I were not in existence, His grace would remain the same. The chief end of His grace is not to help me in my sin and weakness, the chief end of His grace is to glorify Himself, the fact that it helps me in my unbelief is an unbelievably undeserved gift, it's a subordinate end (as Jonathan Edwards would put it) but it is not the chief end. We cannot make His grace about us. We exist for His glory. For so long I have believed that His grace satisfies my weakness and unbelief but it is absolutely crazy to think like that, that His grace exists for me. NO!!! I exist for Him and His glory, His grace satisfies His glory and not our weakness. If His grace was about us or dependent on us in anyway it would not 'increase all the more as sin increases'.
You might ask well if we don't sin then grace won't need to increase so how can it not be about us? Agreed if I didn't sin then His grace would not need to increase all the more but that doesn't mean His grace is dependent on whether I sin or not, His grace is not about cause and effect, i.e. my sin is the 'cause' and His forgiveness is the 'effect'. If that were the case I would never move from that place. I would never be able to escape the 'cause' or rather sin. It would be a constant yo-yoing in and out of sin leaving me full of shame and regret and utterly useless to God (“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." Matthew 5:13).
Thankfully, so thankfully, His grace is about "the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues" (part of the Strongs definition of grace or 'charis' in Greek). We see there that His grace is about exerting His holy influence upon our souls, turning us to Himself, keep us in His ways, strengthening us in His ways, increases us in faith, knowledge and affection. So that... we can sin no more!! It's a 180 degree turn causing you to walk in the opposite direction, it is not a band-aid. In ourselves we don't have the strength but in Him, with His grace we can.
Why did I say that His grace satisfies His glory you might ask. Well if I sin less, position myself and my life to honour Him in all things and live more in the plans and purposes He has for me, I will 'accidentally' bring Him more glory. Ultimately everything, and I mean everything, whether thought, word or deed always leads back to whether or not those things are bringing Him glory. As the famous West Minster Catechism said, "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."
Our chief end is to glorify God. If we are not carefully considering our ways and leaving them behind if we see that they will not bring God glory in anyway then we seriously need to re-evaluate how we approach life. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:15 "...and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again." That those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.... WOW!! When we live for Him we bring Him glory, His grace enables us to live for Him, hence why I say the chief end of His grace satisfies His glory and not our weakness. The fact that it helps us in our unbelief is a sub-ordinate end, it's still an end but not the chief end.
The next thing you might say to me is that, "this God of yours seriously sounds like a bit of a megalomaniac..", and you wouldn't be the first! All I can say to that is in this case God isn't 'delusional' with fantasies of power, relevance and omnipotence . He IS All-powerful, Revelant and Omnipotent. He is not man, He is God, He is Holy, Divine, Unfathomable to our human understanding, and we ought to fear Him that way. Yes He calls us friends, but He is still King! If you don't know Him as I do then, granted, it will be difficult for you to see it that way but my prayer, for you, is that the Holy Spirit will, by His grace, allow your eyes and hearts to be opened to the glorious possibility that somehow, just somehow, He could be real, more real than the very breathe in your lungs, until He becomes the very Breathe (pneuma) in your lungs.
Jesus, I can't fathom what You've done for me, everytime I try I find myself on my knees!!
#justathought
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