Grace Works!

"Grace Works" seems contradictory.  It seems more like an oxymoron than a liberating truth.  It is actually what is called a double entendre, in that, it has two powerful meanings.

First, it means God's grace in Jesus Christ works to be the true source of change in us.  Self-effort rarely brings permanent change in anyone's life.  The flesh is the source of self-effort.  The flesh includes all of the strategies I have learned to try to cope with life apart from dependence on Christ in me.  The flesh is also distinct and unique for every person.

For example, you may have learned to use self-confidence to impress people so you can feel important.  That's a fleshly strategy.  Someone else may have learned to people-please, so that they agree with anything another says to them as an attempt to avoid rejection and elicit some type of twisted acceptance.  That is also a fleshly strategy.

Grace works to free us from those kinds of strategies so that our only strategy is Christ in us.  Often, the way God accomplishes this is not by delivering us from our situation, but by delivering us from ourselves! That is, our reliance on our flesh!  As this happens, our enjoyment of Christ in us and who we are in Him transforms us from glory to glory.  That is one way "Grace Works".

Grace works in a different way, also.  As we rely on Jesus in us more and more, the Holy Spirit brings forth good works through us.  Those works are not the religious works of the flesh but the relational works birthed by grace.

For example, because you are a Saint (Ephesians 1:2) which means a holy one, doesn't it make sense that you would want to live a holy life instead of a sinful one?  Since you are righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21) in your identity in Christ, doesn't it make sense that you would want to live a righteous life instead of an unrighteous one?  Since you are a child of God (John 1:12), doesn't it make sense that you would live a life of love, just like your Heavenly Dad, instead of a self-centered one?

I believe you agree that the answer is "Yes," and the power to live like who we are is found in the Holy Spirit filling us with the life of Christ, so He can live through us.  (Ephesians 5:18)

For many, many years, I prayed to be a Godly man.  I worked hard at doing the right actions and works that I thought would make me a Godly man.  It was intense and I was inebriated with the wine of self-righteousness.  One day, after I began to understand the New Covenant, I was riding alone in my car and heard the Lord speak to me deep inside.  He said, "Mark, you are already a Godly man, so you can stop trying to be one."  It was a liberating moment when I realized, that I was already a Godly man in my identity in Christ.  What a relief!  I could finally relax.  The results?  I stopped working to be one and began to live the good works of who I already was...a Godly man.

Rest in God's grace this week which works!

Warmly in Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

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