God’s Faith Working in You

Meditations for Ragamuffins

August 10, 2023

God’s Faith Working in You 

“Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.”

Habakkuk 2:4

God loves us as we are, not as we should be. God’s love for us, as we are, will transform us so that we can love ourselves as we are, not as we should be. God’s love for us, as we are, will transform us so that we can love others as they are, not as they should be. That’s the theological theory of the Gospel of Grace.

Because of the sinister nature of sin, the great danger to grace is the attitude of those who told the Apostle Paul that we should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace. (Romans 6:1) That temptation is very real, which is why Paul devoted the entire chapter six of Romans to show us an alternative way to live, which is the life in Christ.

The proud, those who trust in themselves, will develop strategies, disciplines and programs all aimed at trying to redeem the flesh that is so prone to spiritual laziness and moral laxity. Alas, the flesh isn’t redeemable, which is why Paul turned to the only solution: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20a). Paul used this same imagery in Romans, “We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin” (Romans 6:6-7).

When we embrace the pure grace of God, our adversary will tempt us toward spiritual laziness and moral laxity knowing that our tendency will be towards rules and laws to discipline our flesh. If we have a measure of success, we become prideful because we have trusted in ourselves. If we lack success in self-discipline, we may become discouraged and lose hope. This is why Paul so powerfully proclaimed that the cure for our sin is God’s grace, and the cure for our susceptibility toward spiritual laziness and moral laxity is God’s grace.

My Takeaway: By the way, the Greek translation of Habakkuk 2:4 has God saying, “But the righteous person will live by my faith.” (Emphasis mine) Paul made a similar observation: “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him” (Philippians 2:13). Do you see it? God’s faith is working in you; the Gospel of grace is transforming you!

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2023 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.