Disciplined by Grace

"God's blessing does not depend on our performance. " -Jerry Bridges

In His acclaimed book, The Discipline of Grace, Jerry Bridges attempts to compel the true believer to relying more on grace (the reality of it) and showing that it is that grace that spurs on discipline in holiness. Two things that same to be so far from one another are grace and discipline. One is a gift and requires nothing, the other is a pursuit, a practice and requires every ounce of strength and energy. As a believer, I have struggled through the years to resolve the two. I have found myself at times erring on one side; either trusting too much in my own pursuit of holiness and forgetting my utter dependence on HIS grace, or negating my responsibility to pursue holiness while using grace as an excuse for laziness in that area. It is a battle I find myself in consistently, and yet a battle we are called to fight.

In Romans 7, Paul talks about his own struggle with sin. The reality that he has died to sin, as all believers have, and has the power of the Spirit to live a holy life, doesn't negate the fact that there is still a war waging within his flesh daily, one that requires vigilance and attack. I too see this often. I find myself wondering why I am doing the very things I hate, the very things Jesus Christ paid for. And yet, in those moments what do I do? Where do I turn? Bridges' quote at the beginning of this post was powerful for me. God's blessings DO NOT depend on my performance. Now before I address that, please don't hear me wrong, I am not negating my responsibility, or using grace to sin, but simply reminding myself, and you as well, of the Gospel and the power therein.

Bridges goes on to explain this idea of "good day" and "bad day". When we have had a "good day", or so we would say, having had a good quiet time, a purposeful prayer time etc., we somehow think God loves us more and we are more deserving of His blessings. And the opposite with a "bad day". Regardless of our performance, we are always dependent on God's grace, His undeserved favor to those who deserve His wrath. There is no good day/bad day, we are always in need of grace.

With that said, we must not believe or think that our performance allows us to have a better standing with God. We must instead return daily to the Gospel. "We need to continue to hear the gospel every day of our Christian lives. Only a continuous reminder of the gospel of God's grace through Christ will keep us from falling into good-day-bad-day thinking, wherein we think our daily relationship with God is based on how good we've been. " When we remind ourselves of the Gospel, we remind ourselves of reality; that we have been redeemed, purchased, and are being made more and more into the likeness of Christ. Through the Gospel we are humbled, brought back down to reality, and propelled to live a life set apart for Him and His glory. We will find ourselves desiring to honor Him, to discipline ourselves in holiness, to glorify Him...not because we are so disciplined, but rather because His grace working within us is disciplining us in holiness. We can now see that it is all of grace, and nothing of ourselves.

In the end it comes to beholding the glory of Christ in the Gospel that will radically and continually change us and our lives for the glory of His name.