Grace Needed For The Christian Life – Part 2

When told to “love not the world” (I John 2:15) we find ourselves up against another impossible demand. A stroll through the mall or flipping through the latest catalog challenges these words from Scripture. You might as well tell a cripple to run a marathon as to tell me not to love this world. The Christian life can never be lived out in our own strength. But we get tired of hearing about Christ living through us. These are again just more demands that seem to be just words on a page. How do I let Christ live through me? How do I find giving better than receiving? How can I overcome jealousy? How? How? How? That is the real question. The Scriptures would never call us to do something that God would not empower us to carry out. Grace is the key word found in all of God’s demands. Paul said that grace did the laboring. “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (I Corinthians 15:10). In Titus 2:11 we are told that grace is the instructor on how to resist the draw of the world. II Peter 3:18 tells us that we grow in grace. But where do I find this grace? In James 4 we are told that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. I must daily humble myself and admit that all challenges of life are far beyond my ability to handle. God’s commands are impossible, but Paul said His grace is sufficient. Note that Paul was humbled by a thorn in the flesh before he spoke about grace. He said he was the least of the apostles just before he spoke about grace laboring. Just prior to Paul exalting the power of grace in II Corinthians 4:15 he says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (II Corinthians 4:7). Note that humility precedes grace in all these passages. Paul did not have an easy life, but the HOW of the Christian life was no mystery. We must daily humble ourselves and admit that we are insufficient for the challenge. Then and only then will the grace flow. That’s the way I see things.