Readjustment, Realignment

This last week began daylight saving time, and, while I was on time to Church, I know some didn’t make it! If I could be completely honest, I could do without daylight saving time, and I am certain most people (even the farmers Ben Franklin suggested it would help) could as well. I could learn to readjust to shorter or longer days without regulation! In thinking about that this morning, I started thinking about Grace. Unlike daylight saving time, Grace is new every day, and doesn’t reset my clock: it resets my life. It is not to be abused, or taken advantage of, but it shows God’s great love for me.

You see, I need a readjustment every day because I stumble and fall, often. I am a recovering rebel, and my flesh fights against the Spirit of God who dwells inside me, often. I am prone to wander, prone to chase entertainments, prone to seek my desires, and thus, destruction. I need Grace! And Grace does NOT mean I can do as I please, and just say I’m sorry. Grace means that every day I strive toward Jesus, and when I stumble and fall, His Grace is enough to guide me back to where I need to be. As I said before, I am a rebel. I was dead in my sins and trespasses. I live in a body that is prone to sin with a mind that is prone to wander. I am a sheep, a dumb, stupid sheep that is prone to wander, and how I need my Shepherd!

And I get this great Grace, this realignment, because God loved me first. I was fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. But my sin leads me to disobedience. I desire things contrary to my Design and the will of my Designer, and so that disobedience, that sin, destroys that image. What hope do I have? God, my Designer, sent His Son to live the life I could not according to the Design, and to die the death I deserve for breaking it. He offered Himself in My place, taking my just punishment, so that I could be restored! And so, I will not abuse Grace (for if I do, I am not really saved by it!), rather, I will seek to be changed by it, transformed by the blood of Jesus Christ, so that I may live a life wholly pleasing to Him.

Galatians 5

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.