I have been thinking about a quote I read recently from Chantel Hobbs. (Chantel is a dynamo who once weighed close to 350 lbs. and through her relationship with the Lord and perseverance; she lost over 200 lbs. and has written a book about her experience.) Chantel now spends her time as a personal trainer, exercise instructor and speaker/encourager for those who want to follow in her weight loss footsteps.
Here is her quote concerning all the emails she is getting about people who have “fallen off the wagon” after vowing to change their eating and exercise habits beginning January 1st.
“Grace and Mercy are beautiful, but when you are constantly begging for both, you are still in bondage.”
Wow! Does that bring you up short?
There is a part of me that rebels against that thought. I am more of the never ending grace and mercy of God school where when I fail (no matter how many times) Mercy comes running and He pours His grace out upon me….one more time….one more time….one more time.
It was life changing when I no longer felt like a contestant on the Heavenly Gong Show where God would tire of my constant need for forgiveness and I’d be pulled of the stage of life with a giant hook. (You have to be a certain age to get that analogy! :0)
Grace moved from head knowledge to heart knowledge and it was freeing and life changing for me to “get it” those many years ago. It was hard won after living with the remembrance of my sin so many years that I had lost sight of the picture of God putting my sins as far away as the East is from the West after coming to the end of myself at the foot of the cross.
So I was brought up short by the quote and had to spiritually chew on it for awhile.
And after doing so I could see that instead of looking at it from the un-ending grace and mercy of God perspective, I needed to look at the other half of her quote and see that it is not about the amount of mercy and grace He offers, but instead, it is about my constant need. Yes, we all fall short and are in need of His mercies which are new every morning, but Chantel notes our constant need to beg God to forgive “one more time.”
And yes, He is faithful and just to forgive us when we ask, but I was thinking about a relationship that I once had where the man could not contain his tongue.
He spoke to me constantly in a disparaging way.
He lost his temper.
He called me names.
It was verbal abuse.
And he was always sorry later.
I remember telling him one time that he was the sorriest person I knew. He looked at me surprised that I didn’t seem to appreciate his latest apology. I did appreciate it, but I told him that if he would control his tongue, there wouldn’t be the need to apologize.
See what I mean? God’s ways are so much higher than my ways, but as I mulled this over I thought about that confrontation long ago and how I felt so hurt and disappointed that it was always the same old thing, even after the “I’m sorry’s.” Does He not wish instead of a constant begging for grace and mercy that we would just “get with the program” and change?
Last Sunday Pastor David’s message was titled, “Why Do We Say We Believe in God But Don’t Live Like It?”
Same question. Why are we so able to come to the well of forgiveness and grace, but so unable to just not do the sin in the first place? Why don’t we change? His word says we have been given everything we need to live righteously, so why don’t we?
A friend of mine used to call it “cheap grace.” Knowing He is faithful to forgive us ought to make us live righteously in eternal gratitude that we won’t bear the penalty for our sin, but we cheapen grace and the price Jesus paid for our sins when we remain in bondage and choose sin instead of walking away.
Like a man Philip Yancey writes about in “What’s So Amazing About Grace” who wanted to know if he went ahead and left his wife for another woman he was having an affair with and then after marrying her, came “back to God” would God have to forgive him?
The answer is “Yes” if the man sincerely repented, but with that heart attitude would the asking for forgiveness and repentance be sincere or just playing the Cheap Grace card with our Savior?
Don’t get me wrong. I haven’t arrived at 101 Zion Street either. I am on the journey just like everyone else.
But Jesus died to set me free from the bondage of sin and death. I owe it to Him to walk in freedom instead of bondage when He offers to me a life of abundance instead of a life spent regretting my sin. (And if I regret it so much, why don’t I get over it and move on???)
Of course I’ll fall and fall short, but isn’t there a difference between stumbling and the “here we go again” of our pet sins?
When I read that quote, I had to admit that I have cheapened His grace and kept my “pet sins” knowing He is faithful and just to forgive me, but I’d never thought about my choice as choosing to stay in bondage.
“Lord, I know that you offer mercy and grace at the foot of the cross. Forgive me Lord, for cheapening the price You paid for my sin by choosing the bondage of staying in sin instead of choosing the abundant life You offer. Lord, I lay my sin at the foot of the cross and know You are faithful and just to forgive. But Lord, change my heart that I will put my sin away and choose instead the New Life of freedom You offer to each one of us. Amen.”
originally posted… 26 January 2009