Month: January 2024

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I Fought the Law and Grace Won

An inmate once recalled to me the moment his world began to change. “When I was arrested, I almost cried,” he said. “I was being forcibly pulled out of an environment and lifestyle that I could not escape on my own. Inside I knew this was my chance for a new beginning, a new direction for me.”
“So, this was an inner cry of relief!” I exclaimed, amazed at his story and his perspective, in particular.
“Yes,” he replied, “it was a deep feeling of relief. I was so happy I almost cried.”
Though it has been some time now since our conversation, I find his story so stunning that, when it comes to mind, I still stop and marvel.

Sometimes “the Law”—God’s law, that is—gets a bad rap. We who embrace grace through faith well know that the Law will not save our soul, as Paul wrote, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in [God’s] sight.”1 This is not to suggest God’s law is deficient in any way; rather, people are deficient in our ability to attain its lofty standard of perfection. “We know that the Law is good,”2 maintained Paul, and to the Galatians he offered this expression of its goodness: “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”3

The inmate’s arrest was both an illustration and, in a sense, the experience of law leading to grace through faith, for incarceration did what he could not do but so desperately wanted to do: it removed him from his otherwise inescapable lifestyle, and then positioned him where he could pursue the refreshing ways of God. For God’s law points us to “the way that is good and right,”4 while simultaneously exposing our natural inclinations to part from it. Trapped, then, in this tension of God’s law, we appeal to the freedom of His gospel—the mercy, grace and new life that are found in one place, Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord. May we surrender ourselves completely to Him today.

“It is for freedom Christ has set us free.” —Galatians 5:1 NIV

“Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.”5 In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Romans 3:20 ESV
2 1 Timothy 1:8 (cf Romans 7:12 NIV)
3 Galatians 3:23-24 ESV
4 1 Samuel 12:3 NIV
5 Psalm 25:4-5 NIV

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Already, but Not Yet

Paul called them “saints.” Whether writing to congregations in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, or Colossae, he greeted the people as they were: saints. It means “holy ones,” and if Christ is born in you through faith in Him, the Bible says you are holy, set apart from the ways of the world and set apart to God. We are not holy because of ourselves; we are holy in spite of ourselves. In grace, Jesus, who is holy by nature, lives in all who believe in Him1; He has made us one with Him,2 and His nature becomes our own. The writer of Hebrews states it clearly, “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”3 As we said in a recent post, “You Are Holy; Get Used to It.”

What follows Paul’s lofty greetings, then, raises the eyebrow, for consider his admonitions to those he called saints. To the Colossian saints: “Put to death . . . whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed.”4 To the Ephesians saints: “Put off falsehood and speak truthfully . . . Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer . . . Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander.”5 Wait a minute! Paul is compelled to say these things to “saints”? They sound more like hypocrites than “holy ones”! But let’s look more closely.

In this world, believers live in what some call an “already, but not yet” reality. (I prefer “already, yet still,” but either will work.) We are already holy, for we live in Christ who “has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”6 Yet we also remain a work in progress: throughout this life, God continues to hone us into the image of Christ, as Paul so clearly states, “[God] who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”7 So “we have been made holy”8 through Jesus, yet He continues to perfect us as people who “are being made holy.”9

Then how do we live in this “already, but not yet” paradox? Choose wisely. Consider these coaching tips from Paul to Colossian saints: “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. . . Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”10 If this is what real holiness looks like, I’m all in. What about you?

Father, in Your mercy, lead us from our ways into Your ways. Continue what You’ve started in us. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 2 Corinthians 13:5
2 John 17:20-23
3 Hebrews 10:10 NIV
4 Colossians 3:5 NIV
5 Ephesians 4:25-32
6 Colossians 1:22 NASB
7 Philippians 1:6 ESV
8 Hebrews 10:10 NIV
9 Hebrews 10:14 NIV
10 Colossians 3:11-14 NIV

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The Dot

A young mentee and I have been making our way through Your Money Counts, a practical book by Howard Dayton on managing personal finances through Biblical principles. (I recommend it.) At one point, Dayton offers this eternal perspective: “Our momentary time on earth is but a dot on the timeline of eternity. Yet we have the opportunity to influence eternity by how we handle our money today.”1 I agree with Dayton and would enlarge the context to suggest all of our words and actions reverberate long after we’ve passed on from this life. Have you seen, for instance, people raised in broken or dysfunctional homes, only later to parent a loving, supportive, and thriving family of their own? These “transition generations,” as I call them, enrich the soil of the family tree for decades or perhaps centuries to come. A dot well lived.

We sometimes doubt our impact in this life and question our purpose; we let the bigness of the universe make us feel insignificant, or we underestimate our impact here by understanding it incompletely or evaluating it prematurely. The truth of the matter is, the fruit of our actions multiplies far beyond our notice, imagination, or the limitations of our earthly timeline. Jesus said that when we speak Biblical truth to those most willing to accept it, they “produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”2 We see only a mere sampling of the harvest, for it spreads far and wide and reproduces throughout generations. This is God’s plan for us, as Jesus so clearly declared, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.”3 This is our assignment: to sow the word, to speak Biblical truth. The results are eternal.

Are you one who stands at the seashore and questions your significance or looks at the stars and feels small? Have you reached that season of life when you truly understand its brevity, and now regret some past priorities? If so, know this: there is still time to sow seeds in fertile hearts, to speak truth to hungry souls. So, go and sow. There is plenty of big bang left in your little dot.

Father, thank You for giving us the great honor of Kingdom impact. Lead us to the fertile grounds of people’s hearts, that we would declare Your Word in great peace and joy. Rejoice in Your harvest. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Howard Dayton, Your Money Counts, (USA: Tyndale), 132.
2 Mark 4:20 NIV
3 John 15:16 NIV, emphasis added