Today's Journal

RECEIVING GRACE

Dallas Willard (1935-2013) professor and author wrote:
“We are saved by grace, of course, and by it alone, and not because we deserve it. That is the basis of God’s acceptance of us. But grace does not mean that sufficient strength and insight will be automatically “infused” into our being in the moment of need. Abundant evidence for this claim is available precisely in the experience of any Christian. We only have to look at the facts. A baseball player who expects to excel in the game without adequate exercise of his body is no more ridiculous than the Christian who hopes to be able to act in the manner of Christ when put to the test without the appropriate exercise in godly living.” (From: ‘The Spirit of the Disciplines’)
It is my opinion that grace carries responsibility. It is free and without any strings attached from the mercy of the Lord. Our responsibility is then to live in dedicated response to this gift. Our most important understanding is perhaps to realize that we must get rid of the dualistic thinking in terms of secular and spiritual. We are alive as one unit within ourselves. We become one by grace in body, mind and soul. It is our joy and responsibility to now live this way.
We are joined by grace to the life of Kingdom living, walking in the light, love and life of Jesus our King… by grace.
“For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God.” Jesus