The divine Tension – Grace and Deeds
Wow, it has been a LONG time since I have written. I am not sure why I feel inspired to write today but here it goes. I was meeting with some great young leaders this morning for coffee and we were talking about Jesus and life as followers of His. I am sure many people who think about the claims of Jesus and His call on our lives often wrestle with the tension between faith and practice. At least I hope they do. I have watched as countless young people profess faith in Jesus for the first time and decide to dedicate their lives to following Him. This is a great thing no doubt. However, I can’t help but be skeptical. So often we see in our christian saturated, churchianity culture the tendency to believe but not act. Let me be very clear in putting myself in this camp as well. Perhaps this is why I have noticed this tendency and felt the emptiness of it so acutely lately. The words of James found in scripture ring in my ears – “faith without deeds is dead”. I am not suggesting we work our way into heaven, I am not suggesting that salvation is granted through anything more than God’s grace. I am suggesting though that we (I) evaluate the response to this grace. What would it look like in our world if every person who understands the grace of salvation that has been granted them responded by actively living out their faith on a daily basis? I recently read that 2 billion people on our planet profess to be christians. Imagine if 2 billion people not only professed to be christians but also lived their lives in accordance with Jesus’ mandate to feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the naked, help the poor, etc. I would bet that our planet would look very different. What gets me fired up is to think about how I can do that in my house, with my family, the people I share the most intimate relationships with. What if I lived in accordance with Jesus’ mandate so naturally at home that it began to overflow into my life at work, how I spend my money and time, how I consider raising my children, etc.? What would this mean for my life at my church? What if I stopped “compartmentalizing” my life and instead allowed Jesus to be the Lord of all of it? What if 2 billion of my christian friends decided to do the same? Well, I can’t worry about them but I can, and will, worry about myself. So, here’s to living within the divine tension between “grace and deeds”….
