Here is the revelation that is shaping my life today – religion completely wrecks grace.
Acts 15:5-6,11 NLT
[5] But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.” [6] So the apostles and elders met together to resolve this issue. [11] We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”
Observation
If we can add something of ourselves to the story of salvation, then we save ourselves. Everything that God has done is completely undone whilst there remains any additional requirement on our behalf. We become mini Christ’s in the salvation drama. We then get to judge, did you meet the set requirements effectively, be that circumcision or whatever your addition is? Then we get to have power as the setters and reside over the rules. Then we get to get earn money for administering the necessary salvation portion. This is what religion does. Sets the cult rituals required for salvation. But this is the start, religion then sets its conduct code by which your ongoing salvation state is maintained and measured. And at every step, it destroys God’s story of salvation. If you hear it walk the other way. It’s foolishness, it’s evil, and it makes us all slaves again.
“Undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus,” is the full and final salvation story. God makes us right, He keeps us right. No cult requirements, no conduct codes, no place for me in the story at all, other than outrageous joy that I am in for free and go on for free. His outrageous way of saving us is all God’s idea, all God’s doing, no room for me and my ideas, behaviour, or religious musing. I am not a mini Christ in the story, I am just completely set free and made right.
Everything we do is a response to what God has done. Baptism, be good, get circumcised, love others, they are not the means of salvation, they are not guarantees of God’s ongoing favour or blessing, God does not trade with you. They are all responses from my heart to the love, mercy, forgiveness, and grace I have received and continue to experience by coming into God’s presence. Spiritual maturity is not for salvation, it’s from salvation. And like fruit, we ripen as we spend time in the sun. We need to establish the rhythms of being present to the presence of God, time in the sun. Again, not a means to be saved but to experience the fullness of being saved. I am not responsible in any way for my salvation story, other than my receiving its gift, but my ongoing engagement and pleasure of the life God has saved me too, in this I have responsibility. But not a responsibility to make it happen but to be present with the one who makes it happen. The saved life is lived by reflecting the glory of the saviour. To reflect I must be personally present, participating first hand in His glory. Time in the sun.
Application
I will not add any religion to the freedom that God has established for me in saving me. I will spend time in the sun.
Response
Thank you that salvation is free and gifted to me in you. Thank you that life with you is not burdensome, but beautiful. Thank you that it flows and is not forced. I see the flow of your presence in my life and become present to it, allowing it to carry and direct me and my thoughts. What a blessing to live intimately connected to the source of true life.
Meditation
Meditation truth – we are all saved by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.
Consider:
Has religion found a place in your relationship with God?
Do you know how to spend time in the sun? To follow the flow of God in your life?
JOURNEY DEEPER
