One of my favorite songs is Grace by Phil Wickham. Not only is he a brilliant singer, his lyric in the chorus is beautiful.
He says: Grace, I call your name, oh won't your smile fall over me. I'm cracked and dry, on hands and knees, oh sweet Christ rain down on me, I need you grace
I have heard all my life that there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and there is nothing I can do to make God love me any less. And this has become as meaningless to me as "everything happens for a reason".
Because I mean after all- the wages of sin is death. Faith without deeds is dead. I need to prove my holiness by my actions. God gives Grace, but in addition to grace I need my action.
RIght?
I mean, it's too good to be true that God just gives grace and that's it, right? There's that really fast disclaimer (this offer not valid in Puerto Rico, Guam or the Virgin Islands, void where prohibited, no purchase necessary, etc) at the end right? I ask this somewhat facetiously but I think I live my life and most people thinking that my actions are the determinants of my eternal destiny. The truth is that the only thing I contribute to my salvation is the sin that made it necessary.
I cannot do a special dance, say a special prayer or wish a special wish to activate God's grace.
I am not the enactor of God's grace. I am the recipient.
God is the actor, I am the object.
We love because He loved us first. He loved me first. And his Grace is a free gift given not by my meritorious behavior- grace is given despite of my actions. And nothing I do can make God's grace insufficient. That's not to say I will sin freely because of this- to the contrary, my gratitude should drive me to strive to please God even more.
But when I fail, let me not be surprised.
And let me remember that He never does.
