More and more everyday I am grateful for the saving grace that is mine and for us all through Christ Jesus. The reason is because I’m becoming more aware on a day-by-day basis of how much I need a Savior and not just day by day, but quite literally, on a moment-to-moment basis. My problem has been one that is paramount to a lot of Christians and not just to myself, and that is, acceptance. Accepting that which we cannot do for ourselves. We enjoy and even pride ourselves on being self-made in our jobs, education, relationships, and even our walk with Jesus. This seems to be the American way. So to accept the gift of Grace that comes only through Jesus Christ completely opposes the nature of being self-made that is inherit in too many of us.
Anyway, this morning as I was reading I came across this amazing summation of grace from a book by Paul Tillich “The Shaking of The Foundations”. This is what he says:
“To be struck by grace does not mean that we are simply making progress in our moral self control, in our fight against special faults, and in our relationship to others. Moral progress may be a fruit of grace, but it is not grace itself.
“Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when we walk through the dark valley of a meaningless and empty life… Grace strikes us when our disgust for our own being, our indifference, our weakness, our hostility, and our lack of direction and composure have become intolerable to us.
“Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness and it is as though a voice were saying: ‘You are accepted. You are accepted by that which is greater than you. … Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intent anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.’
“If that happens to us, we experience grace. After such an experience we may not be better than before, and we may not believe more than before, But everything is transformed.”
I love this! Our relationship with Christ is not about striving and moral reasoning. It is a fruit of the spirit that comes from our day-to-day relationship as we grow and mature through interaction with the Father through prayer. It’s one thing to know Jesus loves us, and another thing to realize it! My prayer today is that all of us would come closer to this place of realization.
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