May Grace Abound

"Be very courageous to do what the Lord Jesus bids you in all things, and let men judge you to be an idiot if they will, you shall be one of the Lord's champions, a true knight of the cross."  | C.H. Spurgeon

May grace abound.  That is my prayer.  Because, in the face of abounding failure, it is my only hope.  However, I do not pray that grace would only cover my sins.  I pray it would increase so that I may obey, ensuing less sins to be covered.  The result of my reflections, upheld by the crutches of scripture, and theologians, are the implications of grace.  Many understand salvation as the finish line.   But it is the starter pistol of the Christian life.

We cannot use grace to squash holiness; Jesus cannot be our savior, but not our Lord (JFK Mensah).  Love for the Son, fosters obedience to the Father.  Grace inherently necessitates obedience.  Titus 2:11-14:

    For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. 

Grace has freed us to obey. It cannot be used to excuse holiness, it is used to advance it.  Too often I have heard of the imperfections of the human condition, and not often enough do I hear of the power of God.

"we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5)

"for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." (2 Tim. 1:7)

"But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. " (Rom. 6:17-18)

If we love God we will obey him.  If we want to obey him, we will earnestly plead for sanctification, and we will be sanctified.  Would not satisfaction with our state of holiness indicate being at ease with sin, because certainly we are not perfect?  Certainly we do sin, everyday.  But to be content with that sin (and do not be naive enough to deny that we are all content with our sin at times, especially the "little" sins) is to do an injustice to the accomplishments of Christ, the gift of the Spirit, and the image and glory of God.  

Becoming Christlike means becoming more human; human in the way God intended.  We return to our original design, and in doing so bring glory to God.  Salvation is not merely the quantity of our life, but the quality in which we live it.  The quality of our obedience must be more profound than gross actions of righteousness, but fine movements that are are easily and often overlooked as modest error.

"Here is an honest man.  Do people say of him, 'He is such an honest man that he would not steal a horse?' No, that would not prove him to be very honest; but they say, 'He would not even take a pin that did not belong to him.'"..."'We must live, you know,' said a money-loving shopkeeper, as his excuse for doing what he could not otherwise defend.  'Yes, but we must die,' was the reply, 'and therefore we must do no such thing.' There is no particular necessity for any of us living.  We are probably better dead, if we cannot live without doing wrong."  - C.H. Spurgeon 

Obedience lies in the exactness of our actions.  We do not deem the floor clean if the majority of it has been mopped, we pronounce it clean when every corner has been scrubbed.  In the same way, we are not obedient if only in the large things, we are obedient when we take care to align even the most minute actions with the will of God.  

Please, do not mistake me.  Understand my audience and intent. I am merely pointing out that we are too apt to fall on grace rather than stand by it.  I am not saying we can be perfect if we just try hard enough.  I am not saying that we should not struggle.  Thank God that Christ's death covered even our tiniest sin, and thank God that his righteous life is imputed to us in every way! However, I am saying, that we are too comfortable.  That, maybe, we do not think as often as we should on the little things.  I am writing to the Christian ( as much as I am writing to myself) that fails to see every implication of grace.  We must not only enjoy the peace in it, but live by the power in it as well. The cross is more victorious than we give it credit. 

"The genuine christian will every now and then have to put his foot down, and say, 'No I cannot, and I will not be mixed up with such a thing as that,' and will have to say this to his master, to his father, to his friend, whose respect he desires to gain, and who may be of the greatest possible assistance to him in life.  But if it be your duty, my dear brother and sister, thus to do the right, do it if the skies fall.  Do it if poverty should stare you in the face. Do it if you should be turned into the streets tomorrow.  You shall never be a loser by God in the long run; and if you have to suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed are you!"

C.H. Spurgeon