Taking Grace for Granted

“How quickly we forget God’s great deliverance’s in our lives. How easily we take for granted the miracles he performed in our past.” David Wilkerson

Isn’t it so true in many of our lives, once something has happened to us, once something has been given to us, once someone enters our life, that in no time at all we take those things for granted? We operate as if those things, those events or those people are ‘just the way things are’ – and therefore not particularly worthy of any notice?

How easy is it, once you are in a relationship with someone, to just take that for granted? No longer being thankful of the amazing gift you have in the relationship, but just assuming it is great and there is nothing you need to do?

How easy is it once you have got a job and become secure, to take that employment for granted? To start to take advantage of your situation, and work everything to your personal benefit – because the job is now yours?

2 Peter 1:10–11 (HCSB)
Therefore, brothers, make every effort to confirm your calling and election, because if you do these things you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly supplied to you.

How easy is it to just assume that God’s grace is enough to cover us, and therefore start to act like we can do what we want, because as the hymn says, ‘His grace is sufficient for me, His grace is sufficient for me…’

Let’s be clear – That is not right!

Just as it’s not right to take your job, spouse, friends or place in life for granted, it is even more serious to start to take God’s grace for granted! Yes – it is God who saves. Yes – God’s grace is sufficient to cover all of my sins, now and forever. But, there needs to be a response on our part, other than empty thanks with no action.

We need to not take God’s grace for granted, but make every effort to make sure we don’t!

How can we do this?

Firstly, think on it! Remember it! Look back on your life and see what God has truly done for you!

Second, read back into the earlier verses here in 2 Peter and you will see the fruit of a life lived with God’s grace in mind – and take action. Make every effort to confirm your calling and election.

We all take God’s grace for granted sometimes. So make the effort – even more effort than you would for your friend, husband or wife – to make sure that you aren’t! Ask for forgiveness for the times you have, and move on, living a life in God’s grace.

How to be fruitful (or am I useless?)

An online friend of mine, Mark Stevens, on his blog talks about both God and gardening – I guess that is why his blog is called ‘The Parsons Patch’. It is an interesting link, as the Bible talks a lot about farming and fruit.

Now, I am a terrible gardener, but I know some basics. First you need a seed or a small plant. Then you need something for it to grow in – like soil. Then you need things like nutrients, water, sun, and more to end up with something that will give you a harvest……. eventually.

Just like when I dabble in gardening (and fail miserably), and wonder where the fruit has gone, sometimes I wonder in my life if I am being useful as much as I could be. Sometimes I wonder – where is the fruit in my life? When this happens, how can I answer myself? Or if a friend asks and needs encouragement, what can I say?

2 Peter 1:5–10 (HCSB)
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. The person who lacks these things is blind and shortsighted and has forgotten the cleansing from his past sins.

Just like a plant needs all of the things above, we need certain things too. And we have been promised – right here – that if we have these things, and they are increasing in our lives, we will not be useless or unfruitful. So in a nutshell, there it is!

First comes faith. Without faith in God and the work of Jesus, we are still in our sins and aren’t anywhere! But faith alone is not enough to bring fruit. ‘Make every effort to supplement your faith’ – from here on we need to put some effort in ourselves!

Read the verses above again. If we take the time to look at these things, and add them to our lives, we will not be useless. We will not be without fruit. Maybe we cannot see the fruit of our labor, maybe we are the sower that plants the seed and then moves on (John 4:37-38). We don’t get to see the harvest, but we know we are not useless – because God has His divine hand upon us and is working His will with us.

So instead of looking outside of yourself today, and trying to judge whether you are doing the right thing before God by your fruit, look inside. Make every effort to add to your faith these things – knowledge, self control, endurance, godliness, brotherly affection and love. And know then that God will without a doubt be using you right now – whether you can see the results or not.

You remind me of someone…

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” – Jim Rohn

This interesting, and much quoted saying from Jim Rohn is something many of us have observed. Spend enough time with someone and you start to say things like them, do things like them, and be like them. It certainly makes you take 5 minutes to think about who you are spending your time with – both giving and receiving influence.

Have you ever wondered why when you look at a couple who have been married many years, even things like their facial expressions are often similar? It is because they have spent so much time together, that they just naturally do many of the same things, say the same things. They almost know what the other person is thinking, or about to do. I’ve been married close to 15 years, and my wife and I can often predict what the other will do or say in many situations, just because we have such a close relationship and that we have spent so many years together already.

You could say then, that we share in each others nature. Each of us introduced things to the other (for example, my wife brought her music, and I brought Lord of the Rings), and those things are now part of both of our lives, shared between us in many cases like there was no time when we didn’t know them.

2 Peter 1:4 (HCSB)
By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.

And so it is with God.

I spent a bunch of time reading this verse, trying to work out what it really meant. Maybe I’m just slow (this can’t be ruled out). The first part is easy – we have been given a great many promises. Promises direct from Jesus, promises in the Old Testament, and others in the New. And the last part seems easy – that through these promises we escape the corruption of the world. But what is it to ‘share in the divine nature’?

Just like our relationships here in this life, we can also share with God. Not become ‘God’, or become ‘gods’, but to share in God’s nature. We spend time with Him, with His word, in worship and prayer, and we start to take on some of the nature of God. More specifically, we start to escape from the desires which haunt and chase us. We start to escape the corruption of the world, and live a holy life.

And even more. We start to see the world through God’s eyes. I’ll share a little thing about me – growing up, I never had a lot of compassion for others – I was a pretty selfish only child. Even as I left home and got a job, even as a Christian, I didn’t really spare a thought for many of the other 7 Billion people out there alive on this earth right now. But over time, God has changed me. If I had stayed in the world, like many I am sure I would still be utterly selfish (I’m not saying everyone in the world has this particular problem – but certainly there are lots that do). But over time, I have come to see that people need Jesus. I have also come to see that people need compassion and understanding. And some people just need a meal to get through the day. And so, over time, I have come to share just a little more in the ‘divine nature’. I’m not God, but I am starting to be more like Jesus every day.

So know this. You have been given many great and precious promises, that will help you to escape the world and its desires. And if you will spend the time with Him, you will also start to be more like Jesus, seeing the world through His eyes, and being His hands in the world today.

How to ‘have it all’

Many of you will have heard the following lyrics… (Apologies to those who will now sing this song all day)

I want it all
I want it all
I want it all
And I want it now.
(insert power chord here)

It could well be the anthem of the modern generation! We want it all, and we want it now. And sometimes, just sometimes, it seems we might even get it – get just enough stuff to make us happy, to make us complete.

If we are honest with ourselves however, we know we aren’t ever going to get ‘it all’. We rarely ever get all we want (even when we think we are being modest), many don’t even get what they seem to need.

But in this, our perspective is worldly. We are usually focused on ‘things’ – stuff to fill our pockets, cars and houses (all more stuff) with. But life is more than stuff! So much more than stuff, if we can just get our minds over what the marketing companies want us to have and back onto God.

2 Peter 1:3 (HCSB)
His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.

There is one thing that we have been given all we need in. The ability to live a godly, holy life. Maybe not everything we want, or even everything we think we need. But everything we need is provided.

How?

Firstly, it is provided by God. ‘His divine power has given’ – this is not something of our effort, something created and sustained by our will or desire, but rather a gift from God to those He has called to live a holy life (that is you, Christian).

Secondly, it is ‘through the knowledge of Him’. It is in knowing God, in knowing Jesus, that what we need is given to us. Whilst it is provided by God, and not of our own effort, we are still called to take action in knowing God, who He is, and what He has done for us.

What can we take away then?

We are never going to have ‘it all’. The world spends its energy creating things for us to desire, things for us to lust over. The focus is taken off God and what He has done, to the next new thing, the next desire, the next iPhone, even the next worship CD or Biblical conference. Everything becomes about ‘having’ and ‘doing’ – as long as our focus is off knowing God, our adversary is appeased, even happy.

So instead of chasing after all of these things, go to what you know you can have – everything required for life and godliness. Get to know God better. Read His word, spend time in prayer, spend time in fellowship with other Christians, who rather than chasing the next speaker or conference, spend their time desiring to know God. Take your mind of ‘I want it all’, and move to ‘God, give me what I need’.

It won’t be easy, but the change in your life will be startling, and then you will realize that you truly have it all.

Slavery in Love? 2 Peter 1:1

Have you ever thought about the life of a slave, or of a lifelong servant? If you try and put yourself into the shoes of one sold into slavery, what words come to mind?

Service. Obedience. Fear. Hard work. 

Your life is no longer your own, you live, eat, sleep and work at the will of your master. You obey when commanded without question, or live in fear of punishment. You serve without question.

There is probably a difference too in who your master is. A good master may offer some form of reward, some small amount of freedom (as long as your service is always perfect), some small amount of care. A ‘bad’ master is not worth dreaming of, living in fear of your very life every day, knowing you cannot escape. Living on the minimum of sleep, food and essentials, and yet still bound always to your masters will.

Slavery is not something you would choose, given the option.

And yet – all who follow Jesus in some sense choose slavery (but with a difference).

Over the next few posts, we will be going through the second letter of Peter. I have felt called to read and study this book many times over the past few months, and I believe it has a lot to say to the modern church, and to the contemporary Christian. Between encouragements that lift us up clearly from the world we live in, there are also many warnings which are very relevant in our connected and non Christian world.

2 Peter 1:1–2 (HCSB)
Simeon Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ: To those who have obtained a faith of equal privilege with ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

Peter here calls himself a ‘slave’ (though sometimes translated ‘servant’) of Jesus Christ. If Peter, who knew Jesus face to face, spent three years with Him and was one of Jesus’ closest companions on this earth is a slave, what does that leave us, but to be in at very best equal standing with him?

For we are slaves of Jesus. We are to be obedient to His commands. We are tied to His will. We even live or die at His command.

And yet, we are more than that. Along with being slaves, we are also children. We are adopted into the heavenly family, and so receive benefits also as beloved children of God.

Romans 8:15–17 (HCSB)
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs —heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

What does this mean for me today?

As slaves, we are to be obedient in all things. We are commanded to do certain things, to be holy, to offer service, to give glory to God in all things. We must do these, as there is nothing else we can do if we are to remain in service. But we also know even in slavery, we have an utterly just and fair master, a good master, who will not take unfair advantage of our lowly position, but ensure we are cared for in all things, and rewarded for our service even if we have no merit for the reward.

As chosen children however, we remain loved. We can be forgiven when we do wrong or fail in our obedience (because we all do). We know that despite the fact we are slaves, bound to God through service, and bonded to God in repayment for our forgiveness through Jesus Christ, we also live as children in expectation of an inheritance – an inheritance before God that will be more than we can imagine, and most likely also different than anything we can imagine!

So go away today encouraged. Know that God does love us as children, and in response to that love, we offer back to him our full obedience and service – not because we have been kidnapped unwillingly from our homeland and taken in service to another place – but out of love and response to the work that Jesus did for us on the cross.