A Return to Grace

    Something is missing in the Christianity of today. Just take a look back at the book of Acts and the Christians of ages past, and you will see that there is a significant difference between their lives and ours. Compare the lives of Paul or George Muller to a Christian of today, and there is no comparison. So what has happened? Why is there a difference between them and us? Grace is the key to this problem.  We do not say that grace is not important, but what has happened is that grace has been redefined in our day. In What’s so Amazing About Grace?, Philip Yancey defines grace as the mercy and forgiveness that God shows to us sinners, giving His hug of acceptance to let us know that He loves us just the way we are.

    Here is how Christianity works. God places a standard in front of us that is impossible: to be perfect, to be holy, a slave to righteousness, and dead to sin. It is not enough that the standard sits there towering over us, but God calls us to live up to this impossible standard. We try our best to reach that high standard and fail time and time again in our own strength. Here is where the divide between Christian history and modern Christianity begins. Today there is a consensus that God never intended for us to live that impossible standard. Many say that Jesus lived the perfect life so that you and I would not have to. Now there is some truth in that. Yes, Jesus did come and live the perfect life to be the sacrifice that we could not be, and yes, God never intended for us to  attain His standard of perfection on our own. But what is forgotten is that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to give us grace, so that by His grace we could live the impossible life.

    So what is grace? Grace is the indwelling power of the Spirit of God to enable us to live according to God’s plan and to carry out his errands on this earth. William Law says it so well, “the purchase of the cross wasn’t mere forgiveness. . . it was Pentecost.” Christ did not shed His blood to just cover over your sin and leave you as a helpless victim of sin. He came to bring you abundant life. By His death we now have the power of God imparted to us to live victoriously for His glory.

    The grace of God brings salvation. For by grace are you saved through faith; and it is not of your own working because it is the gift of God. This salvation is what  the prophets of old searched for diligently and prophesied of this grace that should come unto us through Jesus Christ. Therefore, be strong in grace that is in Jesus Christ, for His grace is sufficient for us, because His strength is made perfect in our weakness. But it is by the grace of God that I am what I am, and His grace is not given to us in vain. For I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I still live; yet it is not I, but Christ that liveth in me.