Fierce Grace

I've been thinking about an aspect of grace lately. My thinking process along these lines was initiated when two of my friends acted in a manner unbecoming Christian behavior. Both of these men are very godly in character and witness and both love the Lord very deeply. So, it was upsetting to me to see them act in a way that I perceived was defamational to their witness of our Lord. So, here's where my thinking led me. I looked inward to see if I could find a circumstance in my own life that would compare to what had transpired between them. Sure enough, there were plenty of examples in my memory for me to peruse. ("Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things." Romans 2:1) One in particular was very recent. As I began weighing this event and running it through a very detailed line of reasoning a particular train of thought began to dominate my deliberation. The concept began something like this. I remembered the conviction I felt when this particular failure was perpetrated. To me it was a grievous sin which I struggled to deal with, wondering how I could allow myself - as a Christian - to perpetrate such an evil. I remembered scripture verses like this one "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (Romans 6:1). The words there "God forbid" have the connotation of meaning "This is inconceivable". In other words it would be inconceivable to act in such a manner since the grace of God has worked so powerfully and wonderfully in my life. But as I thought about this something was building in the back of my mind. This new thought was asking "What about those times you sinned that you didn't feel such a great tenderness and eminent sorrow toward God for having sinned against him (Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: Psalms 51:4). What about all those "simple" sins that I classified as undeserving of contemplation and passed over so quickly without regard. Did God regard those sins as having any less importance than what I considered as my "big" sin. Well, we all know the answer to that; no, all sin before God is an abomination and must be confessed and repented of in order that our fellowship with God may be restored. So, my mind shifted gears and I set out on a completely different train of thought. It went something like this: If we (Christian believers) stand in the sight of God as having been cleansed from our sin and under no legal condemnation - (Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. Romans 8:1,2) - why do we still experience the assault of shame and guilt in our lives when we commit sin. Well, this new train of thought had illuminated two very important process realms for me: Emotion and Reason. See, my reason tells me that any sin committed against a holy God is offensive to Him regardless of how insignificant it may seem to me. This same reasoning process tells me that if God has established me in relationship with himself (and keeps me through his fierce grace), then I stand judicially justified before him and I am never in a state of condemnation. I can experience a loss of fellowship - brought about when I sin, but I do not experience condemnation because Jesus has propitiated the Fathers wrath by his atoning sacrifice on the †cross†. Now, new light was being shed on something I had heretofore been ignorant of; which one of these processes (Emotion - Reason) was guiding me IF I have only been feeling the shame and guilt of the "big" sins and was exempt of the same guilt and shame when dealing with the "small" sins? Do you see what I mean? How many of you - when you tell a "white lie", for instance, feel the same guilt and shame for something that you consider a much more grievous sin? Does reason tell you that this is the way it is intended to operate? Of course not. Our intellect knows this is not the case. All sin - even the slightest - is abomination and rebellion to the will of God for our lives. So, what is guiding us in this type of thought? - Emotion. Now, here's where it gets a little deeper. Emotion does not think. It cannot "Know". It only "feels" (if even this can be said). And, since the emotive process is controlled by the senses - which are not always reliable - it can be mistaken. Our emotions are passive while our reason (or intellect) is active. The objective truths of scripture are never presented to our emotive processes but always to our intellect. We gain "knowledge" of right and wrong by weighing everything against the weight of scripture. Subjectively, our emotive process cannot comprehend the objective truths of Gods word. So, I then had to ask myself - Why would I ever let my emotions control me. Why would I allow my emotions the upper hand over my intellect in any given situation? If reason tells me that all sin in the eyes of God is reprehensible, why would I listen to emotion when it tries to tell me that I need only to repent for the "big" sins? Now, this line of thinking can turn over many a rock to reveal hidden lessons. For instance, look what this process of emotive control will do. It will inhibit repentance. How? Let's say I sin 20 times and I perceive they are all "little" sins. Will this emotive process drive me to my knees in sorrow for the way I have dishonored my God. I don't think it will. No, it leaves me outside the fellowship of God by convincing me it's no big deal. But then a "big" sin comes along, bringing with it the shame and grief and guilt. In turn this convicts our soul and drives us to contrition. We then confess our "sins" and God grants true repentance. But do you see what is wrong with this picture? Because we refuse to see all sin as reprehensible before a holy God, we overlook what we perceive as iniquity and are separated far too long from Gods fellowship. Then, finally, when one of these "huge" sins raises its ugly head and we recognize (through the intellect) the state of our affairs, we fall to our knees begging for Gods mercy and restored fellowship. Brothers, It shouldn't be this way. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). Let us, as people of "The Way" be more succinct in our approach to the way God has set forth for us to live. May we do this by having the mind of Christ! May the fierce grace of God beset us and drive us to our knees over any and all sin.

Soli Deo Gloria

Rick