Give Me Grace, God!
I finished reading through the book of Job this week and was struck by a note my study bible made: “The restoration of a double portion of his losses was a gracious gift of God, not a reward for Job’s goodness or restitution owed him.”
I think in our humanity, it is hard not to read the end of Job and subconsciously think that God is blessing Job because He was pleased with Job’s behavior. Would God have blessed him this way had Job failed to be faithful to God? Probably not, but not because Job no longer deserved the blessing. He didn’t deserve the blessing at all. God probably wouldn’t have given him a double portion because if Job was unfaithful to God, that means he would have walked away from God. Or he would have cursed God and died as his wife had suggested.
Yet, I find myself wanting to be faithful so that I can please God. Not for more blessings on my life, but because I have been blessed so much by God’s benevolent character! The Pharisee inside of me wants to repay God back by being a “good Christian” even though I know it’s in vain. I am performance driven, wanting to please God more than I want to love God. We are called to love God more than anything else:
I am wired to be a people-pleaser, which easily translates into being a God-pleaser. If you are like me, it is easier to try to follow all the rules than to dwell in the freedom Jesus purchased for us. Pete Briscoe declares, “You have been set free for freedom. The rest—the honoring of God and esteeming of others—will flow naturally from the love of God that dwells in you.” He says that you can either try to follow the law, or focus on grace.
This season of life, God is teaching me about grace. Every morning for over a week, I have been begging God to fill me with His grace. I want to be gentler with my family and kinder to myself. But, I want that desire to come from my love of God, not from fixating on growing as a person. If I am loving the Lord with all my heart, then Pete is correct in saying that the rest will flow naturally. Proverbs 4:23 warns us, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
How do we guard our hearts? Paul tells us in Colossians 3:1-2, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” We need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, because He is where our salvation comes from. Once again, we are intentionally taking our mind and hearts captive and fixating them on our love for God.
How crazy is it that the Word of God, which is full of grace and truth, turned into a human being to suffer and die for the likes of us?
This is a radical grace that I want to remember every day. I want it to fill my heart with love and my mouth with thanksgiving in praise. I want to be so focused on Jesus in heaven that God’s love and grace flows naturally from my heart (because God knows I really fail when I try to do it in my own strength). I am daily repenting from my performance-driven behavior and I hope that by sharing what God is teaching me, you can refocus on your freedom in Christ, too.