Grace

As I reflect on the opportunity to preach last Sunday, I think it is always good to remind ourselves that there is more that could have been said.  Or at least to remind ourselves of the truth that was spoken.  It is really easy to wake up on any given morning and forget that without Christ I am nothing more than a rotten, stinky, filthy corpse. 

We go through our days and we see a world filled with merit.  Your promotions at work have never been about grace.  Your bank does not show grace when you miss a payment on your loan.  Even the library does not show grace when you hold a book for an extra week.  Our whole world runs on merit.  You have to work hard.  You have to pay money.  You have to accomplish and earn.  If you do not, you will not have the things that you want.  Grace is something that is foreign to us and so we go to bed in a world that does not exemplify grace and we wake up in a world that seems to hate it. 

And yet here I am.  I am a rotten, stinky, filthy corpse that has been saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone!  What a glorious truth.  And this truth drives me to reach out to other corpses who have not yet found themselves alive in Christ!  This truth drives me to a humility that binds me to the one who raised me to life.  This truth drives me to a better understanding of the life God has called me to live, to a better knowledge of the God who raised me.  In one sense, the fact that I was dead must be a foundational truth of my faith.  It must be a part of my understanding of myself and the world in which I live.  If it is not, my theology will go awry. 

If I fail to maintain proper focus on my "corpsliness" (I know this is not a word), I might start to think God owes me something.  If I fail to keep perspective, I might think of myself more highly than I ought and I might start to think that church is all about me!  SO always remember that you were dead in your trespasses and sin and that you were made alive by God in Christ (you were even passive in the process!)  And it is all because of GRACE!