Expect To Be Blessed

Meditations for Ragamuffins

October 19, 2023

Expect To Be Blessed

Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

Romans 7:6b

In his sermon, You Are Accepted, Paul Tillich describes that wonderful moment when we realize the truth that we are made right with God by grace, through faith in Jesus: “at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: "You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted. If that happens to us, we experience grace. After such an experience, we may not be better than before, we may not believe more than before. But everything is transformed." (Paul Tillich, The Shaking of the Foundations, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, pages160-161)

Miles Stanford would call Tillich’s observation the moment when we taste the grace of God. Stanford then notes, “To taste the grace of God is one thing; to be established in it, and to manifest it in character, habit and regular life is another." (Miles Stanford, Principles of Spiritual Growth, Back to the Bible, Lincoln, NE, pages 12-13) Tasting the grace of God and being established in the grace of God are both resting on the same foundation: God’s acceptance of us through faith in Christ Jesus. First, last, and always, our relationship with Abba has been made secure by Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension.

We never, ever, want to lose sight of our acceptance by God. There will be good days when our thoughts and actions are noble, when we have been sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit and responded with joyful obedience. On those days, we may be tempted to think God got a pretty good deal when he got us. God would smile and agree. Yes, He believes He got a good deal when we came home to Him, but the basis of His thoughts toward us are grounded in His unconditional love and acceptance of us, not our good deeds.

There will be other days when we turn a blind eye to the ways of God, when we yield far too easily to the temptation to gossip, to anger, to self-indulgence. On those days, we may be tempted to think God will reject us, that He will punish us severely for our sins. In those times, we want to remember that the punishment for our sins has already been paid in full by Jesus. The magnificent truth of the Gospel is that God’s acceptance of us, because it is based solely on what Jesus has done for us, never falters or fades.

My Takeaway: This complete and everlasting acceptance by God shapes the attitude of the child of God living under grace. “Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit” (Romans 7:6). We refuse to make resolutions and vows because that is to trust in the flesh, not grace. We expect to be blessed because grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessing. (Principles of Spiritual Growth, pages 20-21) This is life in Christ. Why would we want any other?

(In Romans 7:6, Paul introduces in one simple statement, the heart of the Christian’s life. A very good study of this wonderful new life in Christ is in the book, The Pressure's Off: There's a New Way to Live by Dr. Larry Crabb.)

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.