Grace and Freedom

"Your worse days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."

(Jerry Bridges, The Disciplines of Grace, pg. 19)

This morning the above book came through my door, which was a pleasant surprise since I had completely forgotten about having ordered it! After finishing lectures for the day I went into town to do some reading, as is my usual habit, taking the book with me. I think I am not being too presumptuous if I say that beyond the Bible itself this is one of the most outstanding books I have ever read. It is so rare to find books nowadays that are overflowing with God's outrageous grace, yet rooted in the realities of the Christian walk. Certainly, apart from John Owen's book on sin and temptation, and J.C. Ryle's Holiness, I'm struggling to think of many more.

The quote above is from the first chapter, which I have to say has hit me like a rocket. Here Bridges attacks the sinful mindset that leads Christians to think that God's blessing is performance-orientated. Yes, we do have days when we feel like we can almost smell the frangrance of Christ radiating from us. And yes, we have days when we are so bunged up that we smell nothing except the stench of death and misery, where we feel so far from God that it is a struggle even to think of Him. Yet, God's grace is not dependant on how we feel, or even how we are doing. God loves us regardless. Yes, on our worse days we may be trapped in a mire of sin, but we are still saved, and righteous in the eyes of God through Christ, and nothing can change that truth.

If I really think about it, I am probably well aware of this; in fact, actually, I know I am. But assenting intellectually is very different to having a truth sealed in your heart by the Spirit, which is something I desperately need. Like all Christians, I have my good days and bad days. But for God's sovereign purposes I am also afflicted with a rather melancholic temperament, which means that frankly there are some days where I reckon that I have come pretty close to hell on earth, feeling so far away from God that He just doesn't seem to exist. I have had days where I have felt like this, and yet have been expected to teach the Scriptures, and lead other believers, when I have been so far from God that the prospect of bringing others nearer to Him seemed utterly impossible, even blasphemous. Yet praise God, He loves us and He uses us at even our lowest to share His grace, and His blessings are not dependant on our "performance". We operate solely out of what Christ has done for us on the Cross. At our worst we are never too far slipped to be unreached by this grace, and yet at our best, the times when we feel almost celestial, we are not beyond the need of grace. But Jesus paid for all sin once and for all on the Cross, and it is only through living in a constant state of reliance on Him that we secure His blessings.

"Therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

(Hebrews 10:19-22 ESV)

Grace to you all

Will