GETTING WORSE BY DOING NOTHING
Many times we act like the Pharisee who said in Luke 18:11, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” We look at our lives and it appears that nothing is broken. We’re content with not going to hell, not being in debt, not being divorced, in short, not being anything like those “other” people who have big problems and need major help. What we are saying is that we might not be defeated, but we’re not going to protect ourselves. We might not be sick, but we’re not going to exercise. We might not be struggling in our marriage, but we’re not going to work on improving it either. By doing nothing we’re in fact getting worse. For example, some have a break in their finances after going through a very difficult time or crisis. But they become content, sitting in the breeze of “financial rest”, not recognizing that if they don’t learn from their past mistakes, live differently and steward rightly the storm will amount to a hurricane the next time. The same goes for a marriage. You may not have fought with your spouse in the last two months. That’s great! But are you both working towards a better marriage or are you simply content with the absence of conflict?
GETTING BETTER BY DOING SOMETHING
Paul said, “I am what I am by the grace of God” (1 Cor. 15:10). All that we are and all that we have is by the grace of God. We have no problem believing this. We gladly do. But Paul continues by saying, “and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” Grace is as much needed in the initial work of salvation as it is needed in the continual living out of that salvation. To come to Christ we must admit our sin, but to grow in Christ we must admit our weakness. If we say we have no sin or if we say we have no weakness, we are a liar. Since apart from the grace of God you would be dead in your sins, apart from his grace you would be in a worse place than where you are right now. Conversely, apart from the grace of God you will never be in a better place than where you are right now. So, like Paul, are you working hard in the grace of God? Are you working hard by God’s grace to grow in Christ as a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, a son, a daughter, a steward, a friend, a worker, a servant, a disciple, a worshipper, etc.? If not, and you think you have no need to grow, you’re in danger of having received the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 6:1).
Let us be more like the sinner from Luke 18:13, who said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 18:14).
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