“…through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,…” – Romans 1:5
Our worship staff gathered this morning to discuss the first two chapters, and I must admit we were unsuccessful. We only made it through the first 15 verses of chapter 1. I, for one, was grateful because that was exactly how much I had made it through on my own. We had a beautiful honest time discussing many things that will probably appear in future blogs here. But I wanted to take a moment and share what we ran into in the ideas of grace, faith, and obedience.
I began to share about how much of God’s grace I overlook. I see where I fall short and wonder why I did not have enough grace to succeed, not that it is God’s fault. I wonder what I have done that has denied me access to that grace. Where does my faith fall short and hence my obedience as well? I am consumed with these ideas. But in focusing here, I have missed the grace that I have received. I never notice the grace that carried me through every act of obedience that day. I minimize the good, and focus on the bad. I never get to the end of a day, and thank God for the grace He gave me that allowed me not to murder anyone that day.
I know that may sound silly to you. Of course, I didn’t murder anyone today. But if I fail to notice God’s hand in that, then I am assuming I am capable of that good on my own. And I am quite sure that it not true. I believe that God is the source of every single good thing. And I am not capable of even one good thing without Him. Which means that every time I tell the truth, God is showing me grace. Every time I don’t commit adultery, grace. Every time I make it through a day without stealing, grace.
My friend Drake said it like this, “Our scorecard is only as long as our struggles.” We are only keeping track of our failures. Or as Hartmann said, “We’re only counting our losses, so we look at our lives, and see the score as zero to a million.” I don’t know that I’ve had a better picture drawn of how I look at life than the understanding my friends came to today.
So I’m going to take a little time today and thank God that I didn’t give my wife away to another man (Abraham, Genesis 20). That I didn’t worship a cow made of gold (Israel, Exodus 32). That I didn’t gather sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15). That I didn’t take a cloak and some money and hide it in my tent (Achan, Joshua 7). That I didn’t let a pretty girl cut my hair (Samson, Judges 16). That I didn’t sell my brother into slavery (Joseph’s brothers, Genesis 37). Okay, so I don’t even have a brother. But even that is a grace. Like so many other things, I don’t even have the opportunity to commit this sin. And that is the grace of God. Every kindness today, grace. Every faithfulness, grace. Every truth, grace. Every single good thing I accomplish from working hard to making dinner to praying for my kids as they go to bed is God’s grace alive in me.
I want to be thankful for that today. I want to see the whole scorecard. I think God and his plan for righteousness in my life is probably farther ahead than I think we are.
Thoughts?
Todd
Haha, I’m thankful you didn’t give your wife away to another man too because she is God’s grace to you who helps you see His grace more clearly. But I think I understand what you mean about how much grace we don’t see. Ann Voskamp writes a lot about grace in One Thousand Gifts. (Todd, I think that’s one of the books I gave you for Jenny.) She says “ALL is grace.” Developing a spirit of gratitude will open our eyes to grace that surrounds us in abundance rather than focusing on our failures. Sometimes even failure is grace because it moves us from being self-reliant and prideful to a realization of our poverty and need of God.
I’m looking forward to more posts in this study. Romans is one of my favorite books. It’s a gold mine full of treasure.
I hadn’t considered that grace was God helping me NOT sin… thanks for sharing about that. God’s been working on me to see how much grace I am to give others, specifically through the story about the woman accused of adultery. ( I know it is not Romans, but it carries a similar theme.) We saw a video that mentioned this story in church last week, and it was powerful the way it was modernized. I was challenged in my thinking of grace, and how I need to extend it more.
Re: I see where I fall short and wonder why I did not have enough grace to succeed, not that it is God’s fault. I wonder what I have done that has denied me access to that grace. Where does my faith fall short and hence my obedience as well?
Believe me, I have those too.
Looking back at the verse though, grace is intended to bring about obedience for His name sake…so that we can be a witness to the nations. It’s freeing to understand God’s over-abundance of daily grace–that part is for us to enjoy & praise Him for — but it doesn’t stop there. Because of His generous grace we are freed & motivated to obey.
Perhaps His perspective reaches farther then just us. He’s got a job to get done in the earth. And revealing His grace to/for each one of us is the wisest way to get ‘er done (?)
I LOVE IT! Thanks to God’s Grace, I didn’t murder anyone today. It is so true! I have worked with emotionally disabled students….children….and they are capable of getting so frustrated they could and sometimes do hurt others….
I have worked with and loved students who later became murderers. I do not love them less. When they are adults, we blame them but the truth is, they were once children who were not less deserving of Grace but somehow it seems something got in the way of them accepting/receiving their gift of Grace…I wish I could understand that but I can’t. I do, however, understand that but for the Grace of God, it could have been me…or you.
Grace is truly amazing!
This is very well articulated Todd. His grace is
something I’ve been pondering lately. I
didn’t grow up in a Christian home, and my early life didn’t hold much worthy
of recommending me, but God chose me anyway.
Every good thing that has happened in my life, or through my life, is a
direct result of His great grace.
Thanks for the words today, Gods Grace is crazy, why should he care so much for someone like me. I know he does, but its hard for my mind to figure out why.
I know without a doubt that I would be dead or in jail without God’s Grace. Even as a saved person I still have some mean thoughts. Thank God for Grace! Thank God for parents who took me to church (sometimes kicking and screaming) and Thank you Jesus for seeing in me what I never could and dying for my sins. Amazing Grace!
God’s grace reveals itself to me everyday, especially when I start to think about where I been and seen, to what I have today having accepted His son. There is no comparsson and I would not have it any other way. My life is all about His grace.
“if I fail to notice God’s hand in that, then I am assuming I am capable of that good on my own.” Wow. Well-put! Thank you for this perspective on grace and gratitude.
Thanks for sharing Todd! We just talked about this in a meeting at my church yesterday on what distracts us from Gods grace, and how absurd it is that we let all of the bad over shadow His grace in our lives. Awesome!