Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. [Ephesians 5.3]
Where is grace in this verse? Over and again I see the message of grace interrupted by works. Over and again I see how difficult it actually is to present grace without permissiveness. Over and again, however, I have rallied for grace over works knowing I am probably misunderstood as one promoting permissiveness. Let's face it, this topic is not an easy one to understand! This topic is one that is vulnerable to misinterpretation!
First, one MUST establish that grace is what it is - a free gift. Without this firmly planted in the heart of one contemplating eternal life with God, there simply is no actual "salvation experience." The one who looks to God through Jesus Christ MUST acknowledge his own complete insufficiency to save himself and recognize that Jesus completed (read COMPLETED) the transaction on behalf of all mankind for all time - COMPLETELY.
Then, one must determine how it is that he is to live post-salvation experience. Unfortunately, it is here where most are derailed off of grace entirely and put right back on the track of damnable works. How DOES a new believer act? What DOES a new believer DO?
I am not afraid to say (even at the expense of upsetting well-meaning people), that the new believer is to BE what he is called - a believer. He is also to DO what he is called - BELIEVE!
The grave mistake that is made is that most new believers, although they may have indeed started with a seed of faith, are immediately thrust back into works by these words, "Now that you are a believer, here is what you must do..." This 'what you must do' is damnable heresy. This idea is damnable because no human is capable of perfection, and perfection is absolutely required if performance is the measure by which we are judged.
So, what about permissiveness? What about sexual immorality, impurity, and greed? Shall we simply allow these things? According to Paul (and rightly so), no. But our performance in abstaining from these sins is not our business - our duty is BELIEVE. It is faith that strengthens us - Jesus provides the Holy Spirit who controls our lives and actions.
Yeah, RIGHT!
Yeah, ...right indeed.
So, what am I saying? What about all the sin we still see amongst believers? Are they not trying enough? Good question!
Sin does not exist in the believer's life because he is not performing, but sin exists in the believer's life because he is not believing. If we are going to get it right AT ALL, we must get it all RIGHT!
If we read the New Testament with any other mindset or understanding, we too have "fallen from grace" - we too have missed the COMPLETE message of salvation.
Father, let me not be misunderstood here. Let me be a champion for faith - saving faith. Let my life - words and actions - speak of faith alone. Let me not be afraid to confess my on faithlessness when sin is found in me and not be tempted to proudly think that I must simply try harder to be good. Let Your Word be my source for faith.
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