Preaching Grace

I was reminded on the weekend that we must keep remembering grace as we walk the Christian journey.

It is so tempting to imagine that now Christ has made me his own, I must live such a disciplined life that he will want to keep me by his side.

So when I behave  virtuously, I slip so easily into the sin of pride at my discipline. I forget the reason Christ called me simply because he loves me.

Similarly I may slip into despair when overcome by sin, crushed by its weight, feeling helpless to ever make things right with Jesus. I forget that Christ called me only because he loved me.

C. S. Lewis reminds us that our personal disciplines are important, but they are overshadowed by God's grace to us in Jesus.

 After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage or truthfulness, or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. (Mere Christianity)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)