“Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Romans 2:4-5; 6:1-2
Proper assumptions about God’s grace lead to right thinking, and both check and correct presumption. It is one thing to say we believe in the patience, forbearance, and mercy of the Lord yet flippantly live as though it is cheap, or deserved, and quite another to be humbled by it and live out a grateful, gritty dependence. By nature grace is undeserved and unearned, so believing that brings us under its bountiful, salvific covering.
If we are truly humbled by and grateful for the grace of Jesus that cost Him His innocent life, we will hold it high in honor, and devote ourselves to working and serving in the power it affords. We will desire that He remove our bent to sinning and replace it with holy hunger. We will pursue decisions that reflect His wisdom, countenance, and compassion. We will be quick to forgive others as he has forgiven us, and earnestly pray for our enemies. (Matthew 5:44; Ephesians 4:32; Titus 2:11-13)
But when we do not consider the cost, when we wear the cross as an ornament rather than a blade in our hearts, we will keep self and self interest first. We may grow cold to His kindness and take mercies for granted. We might soften faith’s hard stance against immorality, and give in to crowd pleasing, coarse talk, and easy sins. We might subconsciously trade passion for God with preference for our own sovereigns.
The holy character of God revealed in the cross should purify our hearts and penetrate our personalities. Have we grown weary of or numb to the message of Calvary? Do we grasp the measure of love and cost of the crucifixion, and so value Christ’s gift of grace? Where do we flippantly yield to sin, reasoning (sic) that we will be forgiven? How many times a day do we, by thoughtless little choices and words and behavior, slap our Savior in the face?
“Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heav’n to earth come down,
fix in us Thy humble dwelling;
all Thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love Thou art;
visit us with Thy salvation;
enter every trembling heart.
Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit
into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit,
let us find the promised rest.
Take away our love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
end of faith, as its beginning,
set our hearts at liberty.
Finish then, Thy new creation;
pure and spotless let us be;
let us see Thy great salvation
perfectly restored in Thee.
Changed from glory into glory,
till in heav’n we take our place,
till we cast our crowns before Thee,
lost in wonder, love, and praise.” ~Charles Wesley (1747)
Lord, teach me humble, complete, and glad dependence on Your kindness and grace, and exemplify them unto Your glory.
As the rain and snow 