26th
Grace amnesia
Today’s Oswald reminded me of a few things…
Romans 1:16-17 - Do I secretly believe that everything is up to me? I need to on his power and grace all day long. In this passage, Paul is not saying that the gospel produces power but that it IS the power of God coming to us in verbal form. We get access to that power. The same power that raised Christ from the dead to rescue the souls of mankind. We can draw on that.
It’s interesting to me that so often I think that once I am filled up, I should remain that way the next day. To wake up, filled with the same fullness with which I went to bed.
We are vessels which need to be poured out and refilled constantly. It is a beautiful thing that he wants us to need him. Created us to need an intimite relationship with him. We can be intimately bound to the heart of God (as He intended) when we go to him, drawing on that grace, constantly. I wake up in the morning, refill immediately, arming myself with that power once again. Only then can I walk through my day extending that same grace to the people in my lives. Only then can I handle suffering, hard conversations, failures, etc and know that none of that is connected to my identity. It rests in him and his wondrous grace.
“Drawing on that power” is also marveling at the miraculous nature of our salvation. Tim Keller once said
“One of the signs that you may not grasp the unique, radical nature of the gospel is that you are certain that you do.“ I love that, as it reminds me that it is amazing that I am a Christian! It is amazing that I am his child! How dare I judge others when it is a sheer miracle that God wove this crazy plan and saved my sinful soul!
As I have grace amnesia quite often, let’s remind each other! He loves that, don’t ya know?
