After “I Do”.
- Beloved of God
- Mar 9, 2020
- 3 min read
We’ve made the Christian walk too easy. Does that seem like a strange, discordant, idea? Probably. Honestly, it does to me, as well. But upon reflection, it feels like an accurate assessment. In our zeal to avoid even the sniff of legalism, we have all but erased the idea of spiritual work in any form. We know grace, or think we do. We understand the idea of salvation bought and paid for by the blood of Christ. And we preach this at every turn. Grace is all we know and all we care to know. But that is not all there is to the Christian life, is it? Oh, no! There’s more, much more, but we’ve missed it because we’ve confused the place of grace in our lives and in our salvation. In this age of easy love and easy credit, we’ve created the concept of easy sanctification, easy spiritual growth.
For those of you who are or have been married, do you remember the moment you said I do? The vows that came before the I do? How easy to utter those two simple words. I do. Two short declarative syllables. How hard were they to say? How hard to form the words with your mouth and tongue and expel them from your mouth with an exhalation of air? I dare say it wasn’t difficult at all. But the actual doing? I imagine that was a bit more challenging. In fact, given the over fifty percent divorce rate in our country, I can say with certainty the saying is easier than the doing.
The saying of I do is the bestowal and acceptance of grace. Your bride, your groom, has elected you of their own free will and without obligation, and you have likewise elected your spouse. The deciding factor in this decision resides in the chooser, not the choosee (I made that word up—like it?). You chose them. They chose you. Grace. But after the I do comes the doing, and the doing is hard. It’s so hard, isn’t it. Sometimes you succeed beautifully in honoring your I do, but often you fail. The Giver of Grace will usually rise above those failures and your marriage survives. This is only as it should be, because your marriage is built on grace, not works. But even though this is true, there is much work in a marriage, isn’t there. A successful, long-lasting, mutually enriching marriage, is built day by day through the consistent application of relational discipline, the daily practice of those behaviors that tend to promote peace and harmony and the diminishing of those behaviors that tend to separate.
Just so, we are betrothed to Christ by His election. We have been bought with a price. We have been redeemed in spite of ourselves. We were chosen. This is grace. We are chosen over and over. This is also grace. But there is in this dynamic a demand for discipline, for spiritual discipline that practices over and over those behaviors that tend to draw us closer to our heavenly husband. For the discipline, also, to avoid those behaviors that tend draw us away from our first love. No doubt, we practice these disciplines imperfectly, incompletely, and inconsistently, but this failure does not mean we are divorced from Jesus. Because we don’t practice the spiritual disciplines to be or to stay his. Where did you get that idea? Oh, yeah, that’s right. We develop our spiritual discipline because that’s what we pledged when we said I do to the King. Because that’s the work that leads to a relationship that changes hearts and minds. Because that’s the work that allows us to grasp hold of the fullness of the relationship offered us in Christ.
Grace claims us. Grace keeps us. Graces frees us to grow up into Christ without fear of failure or loss. But the daily walk is so difficult. That surprises many because we’ve emphasized the simplicity of grace. We’ve understated the challenge of growing spiritually, which has led to the discouragement of many new Christians who didn’t expect the road would be so difficult. When they struggle and fall, they begin to feel they are hopeless, so they give up and file for spiritual divorce not understanding the relationship guarantees growth instead of the opposite. Let’s recommit ourselves today to a new, deeply intimate, walk with our Beloved. Pray without ceasing, work out your own salvation, put on the whole armor of God, and return to your first love.
Peace

Comments