Blind to the Grace of God?

by David A. DePra

     One of the fundamental problems in the body of Christ today is

blindness to the grace of God. The grace of God is the basis for

salvation and for all that follows. Without it you cannot see the Truth

on so many things. Indeed, even the very character of God Himself

is defined by this great Truth.

     Now, don't misunderstand. Most Christians DO know the doctrine

of grace. Everyone can quote Ephesians, "By grace you are

saved through faith," etc. And in addition to that, we know most of

the doctrines of justification and sanctification. But when it comes

time to actually live out a relationship with God, and time to live the

Christian life, grace is somehow lost. We are utterly blind to it.

     But why? Why is the very foundation of the gospel something

which is so easily lost, misrepresented, and misunderstood? And

it always has been. You don't read much about the grace of God in

the two thousand years of recorded Christian history.

     There is one basic reason WHY we are blind to grace: We do

not see our need.  Period. We are either innocently ignorant of our

need, or we willfully refuse to see our need. And if we don't see our

great need, we won't see the grace which supplies it. We can't.

Spiritual Bankruptcy

     Now, all of this would be bad enough, but what makes things

worse it that God is busy trying to show each one of us our need.

     First, He has given us His holy and righteous law. How does the

law show us our need? Well, obviously it could not do that if God

gave the law because He actually expected us to be able to keep

it. In that case, the law would show us how wonderfully obedient

we are. But no. The law was primarily given to show us how utterly

short we fall of the glory of God. It was given to reveal the

righteousness of God, and in doing so, expose us as sinners in

need of God's grace through Jesus Christ.

     Unfortunately, even this has, in some churches, become twisted.

Instead of letting God show us expose us as sinners through the

law, we have taken the law and insisted all the more than we are

able to keep it. We just try harder to show by our obedience how

we are able to meet the perfect standard of the law. Such a thing

is deception, and the antithesis of the gospel of grace.

     Of course, the moment we get on this subject, people begin to

totally misunderstand. They think you are doing away with all the

need for obedience, holiness, and Christian standards. They think

you are preaching license. But the fact is, if I still think the only

alternative to legalism is license, then I am betraying the fact that

I don't understand the grace of God. Otherwise, I would know that

living in the grace of God never produces license OR legalism.

     God also shows us our need for His grace by allowing us to fail,

or even by orchestrating circumstances wherein I do not have what I

need, and have no way of getting it. He will bring us to the end of

ourself, and our spiritual resources. But we do have a choice in this.

We can either surrender to Him OUR sense of spiritual pride and

righteousness, or we can regroup, dig our trenches deeper, and try

harder.

     The grace of God costs us absolutely nothing. That is why it IS

grace. But despite the fact that I cannot pay a price FOR grace, I

will pay a tremendous price BECAUSE OF grace. That is, my

flesh, my righteousness, and my spiritual pride will be crucified. It

has to be, or I will have no idea of my need. The grace of God will

remain, to me, merely a doctrine.

     May the church wake up to the fact that we have abandoned the

basics. The grace of God is not merely a doctrine. It is the basis of

God dealings with us, not only with regard to salvation, but with

regard to everything else. God wants us spiritually bankrupt in

ourselves, that we might become rich in Him.