Grace-based Obedience

*Scriptures taken from Biblegateway.com

Matthew 6:25-31

I'm studying for my finals, which of course entails an hourly walk to clear my mind. As I browse the books, one crosses my field of vision about South Africa, and I decide to take it off the shelf. I read the back cover and it talks about the current situation. I observe that the pages are stained yellow and wonder what exactly "current" means. I look at the date of publication - 1986, two years before I was born - and I have a startling revelation. I'm 20 years old.

I'm 20 years old. What have I accomplished in 2 decades of life? Jesus in three and a half years started a revolution, giving it a strong enough foundation that in 2,000 years it still stands. We are tempted (we here literally meaning you and I) to offer the excuse that I'm young. But it's important to realize that I have had a precedent to follow, having been born and raised in church, having at an early age developed a love for the Word of God and especially the radical ministry of Jesus. But Jesus was the Revolutionary. He was the Force of change that was so extreme the whole world thought it necessary to divide human history into pre-Him and His life + post-resurrection. That was my Jesus.

My Jesus studied the Word in depth in Hebrew school in a manner, I'm sure, that parallels my own Sunday School education. Yet, He not only fulfilled the Law, He was the Fulfillment of the Law. A pastor today so eloquently put it as, "Jesus not only preached the good news, He was the good news." And I? I falter in even sharing my faith. I falter in fulfilling the righteous acts of obedience of which Jeremy Camp's piercing eyes constantly remind me (see the "2-D God" devotional).

I get it- I'm not the Messiah. Thank God for that. But to say that I am not to hold myself up to the standard of Jesus's life is equivalent to going against the principle I constantly emphasize - to measure the world's "truth" against the standard of the Word of God. It is valid to extend this principle to our actions because Jesus demonstrated His fulfillment via His actions. So great was His work that four gospels were written about it. So intricate and well-developed was His work that it could be written about through four completely different lenses, better than any poem by T.S. Elliot.

Jesus astounds me. He blows me away. And He puts my daily actions to shame, but not to my disgrace. On the contrary, I am all the more aware of the grace that pervades my life, the grace that sneaks into every nook and cranny, even the areas of which I would shut Him out, but God knocks down the door instead of just simply knocking because He knows - He knows I need His grace even more in those places. The Bible says that where sin abound, grace abound further still [Romans 5:20]. I am covered, fully saturated in His grace and mercy. In 20 years of halfway living, I am saturated with grace. In this season of remembering the wonderful bundle of joy that came into the world 2000 years ago, I realize He came that I might have all-sufficient grace [2 Corinthians 12:9]. We can argue that with this economy we don't have money to buy gifts and can't decorate like last year. True, but we have grace.

Well, grace doesn't pay the bills. No, but obedience does. I promise you that. That's why we seek first the kingdom of God [verse 33]. Better to obey now than sacrifice later (Sound familiar? [1 Samuel 15:22]). Obey, today, my sister. Trust me in that you have grace enough for the future. Obey now.

God bless,
Alisha