Tag: Faith

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Dance with the One Who Brung Ya

“You gotta dance with the one who brung ya” — so goes the American adage, a swig from the little brown jug of hillbilly parlance. It means to remain loyal to the people or principles that supported us in the past and led to our wellbeing in the present. It esteems integrity over indifference, confidence over doubt, and gratitude over exploitation. Yet we repeat this backwoods gem for a reason: the temptation not to heed it.

It was faith in Jesus Christ, as proclaimed by Paul, that brung the Galatian believers to the “dance” of the Spirit. They had welcomed the apostle “as if [he] were an angel of God,”1 and through Paul’s message, “the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to [them] as if {they] had seen a picture of his death on the cross.”2 They believed the good news of the Christ and received in themselves the Spirit of God. But as if in a race — or in this case, a dance — others “cut in”3 on them, an infiltration of those diabolically arguing the need to continue following the ceremonial laws of Moses. The Galatians cowed in fear to the falsehood, and their oppression showed: “What has happened to all your joy?”4 observed Paul. He had brung ‘em to the gospel, but now they danced with the law. So Paul chided them, and for their own good: “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? . . . After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? . . . Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?”5

Legalism would still today “cut in” on our glorious dance with freedom. We no longer feel compelled to follow Old Testament ceremonial laws, certainly, but what about our fleshy demands regarding dress or worship style, for instance? God does not condition His grace on these, so why would we? Yet dancing with legalism is more deeply troubling still, for it grips us hard, steps on our toes, and whispers doubt in our ear. It dupes us into distrusting the enormity of God’s love for us and the sufficiency of His grace toward us. It tempts us to “lead” the dance by our works when we can only “follow” in His grace. This should not be, and it need not be.

So, ask yourself, “What was it that set your feet a-dancin’?” Was it the rigid and relentless demands of the law, or the heel-kickin’ joy of forgiveness and grace? Remember your answer. And dance forever with the One who brung ya.

“God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight.” Romans 3:24 NLT

Father, lead us in Your truth, and remind us of Your grace. Grant that we would rejoice so freely in Your Spirit that others will join us in the dance forever. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Galatians 4:14 NIV
2 Galatians 3:1 NLT
3 Galatians 5:7 NIV
4 Galatians 4:15 NIV
5 Galatians 3:2-6 NIV

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The Door to Grace

It was his turning point. Presented with the gospel one day, Ray responded to his friend that he had led a good life and that was good enough. So, when his friend dared him to go one day without sinning, Ray eagerly accepted the challenge. “I didn’t even last one hour,” he recalled years later, “That’s when I realized I needed a savior.” It is the most blessed grace to come to the empty end of ourselves and to entrust our all to the atoning work of Christ on the cross. For as Paul wrote, it is through our Lord Jesus Christ that “we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”1 Such comfort! We need grace! But what is it about faith that God establishes it as sole access into His grace?

Coming to faith in Christ Jesus aligns us with two eternal and inescapable truths: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”2 Further, our humble submission to Jesus trumpets to all creation—seen and unseen—just who He is: “The Son is the image of the invisible God . . . All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”3 Life itself is found in Him. And perhaps above all is this: “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.”4 We have nothing to add, no compensation to offer Him, just ourselves in need of grace.

Then grace is not a matter of our goodness, but Christ’s fullness, for “from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”5 For “righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”6 And “through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”7 By grace we have been saved through faith”8 (and faith itself a gift from God). “Through faith in [Christ] we may approach God with freedom and confidence.9 “By faith we . . . receive the promise of the Spirit. 10 And having “gained access by faith into this grace . . . we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”11 This is grace upon grace—grace in its various forms. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”12 For we need grace; we need the Savior.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. —John 1:14

Father, we turn to You for grace. Strengthen us in faith that we would always flourish in Your favor generously poured out on us and through us in its various forms. Be glorified in us. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Romans 5:1-2
2 Romans 3:23-24
3 Colossians 1:15-17
4 John 3:35
5 John 1:16 ESV
6 Romans 3:23
7 Romans 5:1
8 Ephesians 2:8
9 Ephesians 3:12
10 Galatians 3:14
11 Romans 5:2
12 Hebrews 14:6 ESV

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Vibrant Faith, Hope, and Love

My friend James is hospitalized with COVID, his medical history perhaps heightening his susceptibility to the virus. His pain level upon coughing has been a 7 to 9 on a scale of 10; fortunately, this is improving a bit. But to all the medical professionals who tend to him (including caregivers from Thailand, Philippines, Morocco, Nigeria, and, of course, the US), James’ top priority is to honor them for who they are and to affirm them for what they do. “I tell them that, in [my hospital room], you are a person first.” For James has come to realize that, while the staff is there to help him, he also must “be ready when called upon to offer encouragement to [them, even if] through . . . suffering.”

Where does such a heart—this others-first focus—come from? I believe it is the outward overflow of an inner freedom that pours forth in joy when we accept and rest in the fact that God knows us individually, loves us personally, and cleanses us from all our sin. This is “truth that sets [us] free.”1 The apostle James stated it most simply: “We love because [God] first loved us.”2 Such love is not an obligatory burden to bear impossibly in our flesh, but a joyful emancipation to live out fruitfully in the Spirit. It is that for which Paul commended the Thessalonian church: “We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.3 Faith, hope and love—spiritual growth and meaningful impact are rooted in these.

Yet if we affirm this triumvirate merely in the abstract, as if nodding academically to tenets of a creed, we miss the point. For vibrant faith, hope, and love are more than conceptual; they are relational. Exhorted the writer of Hebrews, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience . . . Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”4 By God’s grace, no matter where we are, even if in a hospital bed, we can “be ready when called upon” to reach others in faith, hope, and love.

Father, draw me close to You today, that You would speak and I would hear. Lead me to where You want me to share the faith, hope, and love that are found in You. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 John 8:32
2 1 John 4:19
3 1 Thessalonians 1:3
4 Hebrews 10:22-24