grace and gratitude
June 25, 2009
READ: Titus 2:11-14
The grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures (vv.11-12).
Martin Luther wanted to quit. His congregation in Wittenberg, having learned that Luther’s gospel promised forgiveness for any and all sin, had stopped attending services and giving to the ministry and had started indulging in greed, lust, and booze. A frustrated Luther threatened to go on strike if they didn’t change their ways. He declared, “You absolutely unthankful beasts, unworthy of the gospel; if you do not repent, I will stop preaching to you.” They did not and so he did, taking several months off from being “the shepherd of such pigs.”
Like the Lutherans in Wittenberg, many of us may have thought (early in our Christian career): If God forgives us no matter what we do, then it ultimately does not matter what we do. Salvation is a blank check. We can sin as much as we want, for it’s all covered!
Surprisingly, Paul tells Titus that rather than encourage sin, the grace of God actually instructs us “to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures” (Titus 2:12).
The Heidelberg Catechism explains that only when I realize “how great my sin and misery are” can I understand “how I may be delivered from all my sins and misery,” which then leads me “to express my gratitude to God for such deliverance.”
So here is the Christian calculus. Understanding the extent of my sin enables me to appreciate grace, which automatically fills me with gratitude, which always looks for ways to say thank you. It looks like this:
Sin → Grace → Gratitude → Good Works
If your love for God is waning and your will to obey is lacking, the answer is not to grit your teeth and try harder. Instead, work the formula. Start with a realization of the depths of your sin. Only then will you appreciate your need for grace. And gratitude and obedience will surely follow. —Mike Wittmer
Why is it significant that the New Testament word for gratitude (eucharistia) is built on the term for grace (charis)? Is gratitude a better motivation than duty? Why?
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June 25, 2009
READ: Numbers 14:1-10
If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us. —Numbers 14:8
Eugene Cussons rescues chimpanzees. Orphaned by those in the business of bush-meat trade and taken from the jungle as infants, many have lived their entire lives confined in a space smaller than a prison cell. When Cussons arrives to take them to the game reserve he calls “Chimp Eden,” he often finds them hostile and untrusting.
“These chimps don’t realize that I am one of the good guys,” Cussons says. When he tries to put them into a smaller crate for the trip to their new home, they put up quite a fight. “They don’t know that I’m going to take them back to Chimp Eden and give them a life so much better.”
On a much grander scale, God’s offer to liberate us from the slavery of sin is often met with resistance. When He rescued the children of Israel from Egypt, God took them through difficult places that caused them to doubt His good intentions. “Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” they cried (Num. 14:3).
On our journey of faith, there are times when the “freedom” of sin that we left behind is more appealing than the restrictions of faith that lie ahead. We must trust the protective boundaries found in God’s Word as the only way to get to the place of ultimate freedom. — Julie Ackerman Link
Obedience to God is the key to freedom.
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