Grace or Guilt?

Our article for church bulletin on Sunday.

The Bible has high standards for God’s children. We are told to be Holy, to suffer well, and to forgive as Christ forgave. We are told to love our enemies, love our families, and love God supremely. God has expectations for his people. In fact, the reason He has a people is so they can make His name known (1 Pet 2.9-10).

These facts can be overwhelming. We can stack ourselves up against the Scriptures, and feel a sense of guilt and inadequacy that could bury us. It is at this moment we must turn our minds immediately to the gospel. Your obedience will never be perfect, but there is one who has obeyed perfectly. That one is Jesus whose righteousness is imputed to believers. This is the heart of the gospel. This isn’t a “get out of obedience free” card. Quite the opposite. We desire to be as Paul was, pressing on to the goal (Phil 3.12) because we know what the Lord has done for us. I want to run the race to win (I Cor 9.24). I want to do the good things I know to do (Jas 4.17). I want to please the Lord in all things (2 Cor 5.9).  

The gospel spurs us to obedience and commitment through grace not guilt. The reason I obey isn’t to be accepted, I obey because I am accepted by God. Making this adjustment will revolutionize your outlook on what it means to live as a Christian. You don’t have to live exhausted and guilt laden by your failures. Confess your inadequacy and sin to the Lord, then recognize your profound need of His grace, and walk in obedience. Your obedience to the Lord must ultimately root itself in the work of Jesus, not simply your desire to “do better.” Imperatives (commands) of the Bible rest on the indicatives (truths). In other words, obedience grows out of our appreciation and understanding of grace. 

Do you want to be more obedient to the Lord? Then immerse your thinking in the gospel. “Set your mind on things above” (Col 3.2). The writer of Hebrews gives similar instruction in chapter 12. We are to set aside sin and run the race with endurance always “looking to Jesus.”