Not only do we need Saving Grace daily, but we need Sustaining Grace as well. It is not that God saves us by his grace and then, now it is up to us to run the race, to be faithful on our own strength and to finish well by the effort of our own will.
A number of years ago, a well known speaker told me a story about a friend of his who had followed Christ for many years, been used for many significant ministries . . . and then, in the space of about a month's time, made so many horrible choices and fell into such an abyss of sin, and walked so thoroughly and far away from God - that the speaker wondered if his friend had ever really been a Christian.
But that seemed silly, for his friend had prayed the prayer of faith, had sacrificed much for God, had a wonderful influence on many through the teaching ministry he had and they had many profound conversations of life with Christ. But all that had come to an end.
And at the time of the telling me of this story, that friend had not come back to God, but continued on in a hardness of disobedience.
The great Augustine had this to say:
Who is not aghast at the sudden crevasses that might open in the life of a dedicated man (woman)? When I was writing this, we were told that a man of 84, who had lived a life of continence under religious observance with a pious wife for 25 years, has gone and bought himself a music girl for his pleasure . . .
If the angels were left to their own free will, even they might lapse, and the world be filled with "new devils."
It is the mystery of sin.
Augustine didn't have to figure out that mystery to understand that on his own free will, unaided by the grace of God, and apart from the power of the Spirit of God . . . he would also make bad choices, he would disobey the will of God, and he would walk away from the love of God.
The great saints know they are deeply flawed sinners . . . who daily need the mercy of God to keep them close to Himself, to keep them secure in his love, to give them victory over sin . . . and to forgive and restore them when they fail.
The maturing process of the Christian life is not a growing independence from God... rather, it is the exact opposite. It is growing in our knowledge that apart from God we are undone and lost. So it is the hunger of more of God, more dependency on God, more intimacy with God.
As you begin your day, pray for the sustaining grace of God so you may love and follow Him in joy and serve Him in obedience.
May today be your Declaration of Dependence on God.
Brian K. Rice
Leadership ConneXtions International
www.lci.typepad.com
