Living by grace

Life has rules and is best lived by these rules. The rules keep you safe. The rules make you effective. The rules inform you when you are right and when you are wrong, preferably when others are wrong! The rules make everything so clear, so concise, so wonderfully clean and easy. Life has rules and it would be great if everyone followed them. . .the trouble is they don’t.

It isn’t as if the rules are not clear, at least to me. The rules are there to show everyone how to live a good life, a clean life, a life where everything works. However, some people don’t think the rules are so clear, or worse, they don’t agree with the rules. They have their own rules, rules which differ from my rules. . .I suppose that means they are wrong, at least according to my rules. No problem. They don’t have to keep my rules. I have rules for relating to people who don’t keep my rules. I can keep my rules without their approval or their participation. I can keep my rules and in keeping them I will show them what it means to be a good person, a kind person, a person of worth who contributes value to the world. I can keep my rules. . .until I can’t.

OK. So I slipped up on that one, but I can do better. I was just tired and dropped my level of vigilance. Nothing a good cup of coffee can’t remedy. I can keep my rules. . .Alright, so I had a bit of a foible. This is but a simple issue. I think I know what went wrong. I was just not trying with all my might but now that I know what went awry, I can remedy it. I can keep the rules. I can be a person of great worth and value. I can do it. . .Egad! What is wrong with me? I tripped up again. This is getting to be a problem but I can fix it. I will just add another rule and in keeping this rule I will never ever break the rules again, and I will forever be a person of worth, a person of greatness. I can do it. . .Yikes! This is a bit embarrassing, but please, overlook my failure once more. I do not know what my issue is. I think I must be doing something wrong. I know of a book that talks about this issue. If I get up a bit earlier each day and read this book, I think I can equip myself to do better. It is going to take some effort but I can do it. I can keep the rules. . .Phooey! This is becoming problematic, and I am so tired. I just haven’t given it my all yet. I just need to screw my mind tight and summon all my energies. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. . .Who am I kidding? I can’t.

I just can’t. I can’t keep the rules. No matter how hard I try. No matter how many plans and revisions to plans I make, I just can’t keep the rules, which means I will never be a person of worth. I will never have a right life. I will never be a person of value, all because I can’t keep the rules. But then again, do I really have to keep them?  What if it was possible to be a person of worth, to make a positive contribution, to live a right life all without trying really hard to keep the rules? That would be a dream come true, but it sounds too good to be true. Then again, there is this thing called grace which beckons me, beckons to me with the hope that life can be found without the rules.

A fellow traveler,

Blake

What’s my next step?

We encourage you to consider engaging in the following as a way of handing off faith in your family.

Pray the disciple’s prayer:  Life was meant to be lived with God who is loving and gracious. However, we do not naturally relate to God in this way. We often approach God as if he cared more about our performance than our person. This week, consider encouraging your child to approach God as the one who is loving and gracious, one who enables us to live by grace by leading him to memorize and pray the disciple’s prayer (Matthew 6.9-13). Look for opportunities to pray this with your child at key moments, such as at bedtime, being open to discussing the deeper meanings of what it means to approach God in the way Jesus describes.

We encourage you to consider engaging in the following as a way of deepening your own faith.

Sit with God:  For many of us, life is about rules. We find our worth and value in making and keeping these rules and evaluate others in their keeping of the rules. The trouble with the rules is that we simply do not have it within us to keep them, though we try, often to the point of exhaustion. This week, consider sitting with God for at least 5 minutes each day, doing nothing other than enjoying his presence, soaking in his grace. Give God space to remind you that life is not about keeping the rules but about living by his grace.