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Opening Ourselves to Grace: Have you ever fallen in love? Do you remember what it was like? Your beloved consumed your every waking thought. You could not wait until you were able to embrace this person and express your love and devotion. When you were with your beloved, you felt complete and fully alive. You were more aware of the world around you because everything reminded you of your beloved. Your love grew when you spent time with your beloved and shared your life with this person. As time went by, you sought each day to become more like your beloved. Your love was all-consuming. It affected every aspect of your life. Your relationship with the beloved became part of you and formed your identity. Christian discipleship is a relationship with Jesus Christ not unlike that which you share with the one with whom you fell in love. When we accept Jesus' invitation to take up our cross daily and follow him (see Luke 9:23), we become his friends (see John 15:14-17) and members of his family (Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:1-7). This relationship is a matter of heart and life. In this paper we will explore how to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. We will learn about God's grace, which is the character of the divine-human relationship, and we will learn the basic practices God has given to draw us to Christ and keep us with him. These basic practices of Christian faith and life are known in the Wesleyan tradition as the means of grace. If love describes the what of our relationship with Christ, the means of grace are how we live with Christ in the world and grow in loving and knowing God, our neighbors, and ourselves. Christian faith is more than agreeing with a set of doctrines or creeds. It is more than outward appearances, signs, and symbols. It’s more than saying “I’m a Christian.” Faith is ultimately about what is happening on the inside. It is a heart changed by an encounter with the living God who comes to us in Jesus Christ. The changed heart makes a difference in the way we live our lives in the world. This life begins with forgiveness of our sins. When we acknowledge who we are (sinners in need of forgiveness), we can begin living into the lives God desires for us as his beloved children. With forgiveness comes freedom from sin and death so that we can love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love those whom God loves; as God loves them, in Christ. All this is God’s gift to the world – grace.
As we live this life, we become channels of grace for the world. As we walk with Christ in the world, he gradually removes the blockages to grace we have built up. As the barriers come down, his grace can flow through us for the world. Walking with Christ in the world changes us into the human beings God created us to be. He forms our character into a reflection of his. The goal of this life is to “have the mind of Christ” (Philippians 2:5). God does this in us as we “work out our salvation” (Philippians 2:13). Let Us Plead for Faith Alone
These lines from Charles Wesley describe the life into which God invites us. Faith is the heart of this life. This understanding of faith is relational. Faith is how we live with the God who comes to us in Jesus Christ. Such a faith is belief, trust, and hope in God – the God who is revealed in the history of the people of Israel; in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; and in the life of the church. Faith in this God is a living and active faith that is shown by how we live and love in the world. This faith is a gift from God; it is grace applied to life. Such faith gives freedom to love. As we grow in loving God and those whom God loves, our character is formed more and more into the character of Christ. Active, living, vital faith “forms the Savior in the soul.”
In this prayer, John Wesley summarizes the dynamic of grace. It moves in, with, through, and for the world for healing leading to wholeness; reconciliation leading to genuine trust, righteousness, and justice. Grace is the love of God, incarnate in Jesus Christ, and activated in the Holy Spirit, given to draw the world to God. By grace, God restores individuals and communities to right relationship in order to heal and form the image of Christ – damaged by sin – into wholeness. This is salvation. It is both the forgiveness of sin and the healing of broken human lives into wholeness in the likeness of Christ.
The life of grace God gives is lived with others in God’s household (John 15:16; Ephesians 2:19-22). The grace God gives is a responsible grace. It is responsible in two ways. First, as a gift that is offered freely and without price, it must be received and accepted as a gift. Because the gift is God’s unconditional love and acceptance, God does not impose the gift on anyone. We are free to respond with indifference, rejection, or acceptance. Second, if we choose to accept the gift and enter into God’s way of life in God’s household, with that acceptance comes accountability. As members of God’s family, we must live by God’s household rules (loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, loving our neighbor as ourselves, and loving one another as Christ loves). Therefore, we are responsible for one another “for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity to the measure of the full stature of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13). The life that God gives cannot be lived alone. It must be lived in a community (the church) of love and forgiveness in which all are nurtured, challenged, and accountable for growing in love to become fully the human beings God created them to be. In other words, grace equips and empowers each person to “do all in your power to increase their faith, confirm their hope and perfect them in love.” NEXT >> |
