“And God is able to make all grace abound to you…” – 2 Corinthians 9:8 {ESV}
A series of alarms went off this morning to extract me from a good night of deep sleep. I was caught off guard because today is my off-day and I usually like to sleep until at least 7 AM if I can. This morning, our little 15 pound dog, Foxy, became agitated in the back yard and commenced to sounding her alarm for a steady two minutes. Whatever had disturbed her finally subsided and she went back to sleep in her cozy dog house. She was blessed because I was not afforded the same luxury of a return to slumber. A second alarm went off within in me. I became awakened to my sin.
If you read here on a regular basis you know that I am often communicating about the ongoing presence of sin in the lives of Christians. I’m unsure why I seem less able to pass this issue over than some in God’s church. There have been men and women that have gone before me who also suffer with a hyper-sensitivity to iniquity and don’t quite possess the ability to “flip the switch” and relax concerning this matter. The Puritans reveal in their writings a deep loathing and awareness of personal sin as they also proclaim the immensity of God’s grace. Luther and Spurgeon constantly wrestled with these very same issues, at times debilitating both of the men in their ability to walk in lightness and ease. Interestingly, it is my personal opinion that too few of us in the body of Christ think upon sin sufficiently. We gloss over it, excuse it, manage it and tolerate it. We don’t seem to hate it as we should…at least not our own sin.
Before I was able to get up and out of the bed, Amy sleeping soundly beside me, my conscience began to inventory all my misses of the mark this week. What an unprofitable and miserable activity to begin my day! I had to get out of bed and run to the Word where I was reminded that God is able to make all grace abound to me. He tells us that, where sin increases, Grace increases all the more (Rom. 5:20). His grace is said to be glorious (Eph. 1:6) and all sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9). I am to rest in nothing but grace if I wish to experience comfort and hope (2 Thess. 2:16). Any time we look to some other source to experience a sense of assurance and security we have turned to an insufficiency. No matter how good, moral, committed, disciplined, discerning and victorious we may very well be…it is only and always the grace of God that puts a sigh of relief in the soul of man.
Join me in turning off the inner alarm that startles you with the accusation, “You’re not good enough! You’re not good enough!” Sound your own responding alarm which says, “I already know that! I already know that!” Then cry with me as did the Apostle Paul who found his serenity and rest in Christ when he wrote, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.” – 1 Cor. 15:10.
Grace is the end of all accusation against imperfect saints. Let that be enough for you today.
This post made me aware of the fine line that we as Christians walk. We are to be aware and repentent of our sin and to treat it as real as death, yet at the same we live in grace and can’t become consumed or obsessed with sin. Great post.