We Have Forgotten

In this time and age where secret sins are prevalent - where it is so easy to live a double life, there is no shame in what we do. We have fallen from the grace that God so freely gave us. We do not find His grace to be enough. We push Him away, then feel empty and try to fill that emptiness with worldly passions, with ANYTHING other than God. There is a lack of accountability and community in the church. The church has lost its definition, and is now simply a building we gather in once a week.

During the week, it is not obvious that we are Christians. It is not obvious that our lives have been radically changed by the grace of God. We have lost the excitement, the drive to try to know God and to seek Him. We have His word so available to us, yet we don't take advantage of the freedom we have. We push God aside, and try to add to His grace, as if it isn't enough. We put other people and things above God. We no longer want His will to be done, but ours.

The Christian lifestyle is no longer appealing unless it has been added to. If we are constantly thinking of what we can get away with or how far into sin we can go, do we really love God? Are we really under His grace? Do we realize that the very same Spirit who was in Christ, is in us, as believers? The church in America today has forgotten these things, they have forgotten that God's grace is more than enough. They have become less interested in God and who He is, and more interested in themselves.

Isaiah 28:12-13
to whom he has said,
“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
And the word of the Lord will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little,
that they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.

2 Corinthians 12:9a
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Galatians 5:1
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

If we add to God's grace, it is no longer grace; it is the law. Christ has set us free from Jewish ceremonial laws and regulations but not from obedience to God's moral standards. If we depend on the law for salvation, then the question is raised: are we truly saved? Of course, we can never lose our salvation, but if we do not rely solely on the grace of God, we follow a totally different gospel (a man-made one).

We need to rest in the grace of God and stop looking at ourselves. Our calling is to be so interested in what God is doing and what he has done, that we don't care about what we are doing. We should only care about Him and the overwhelming truth of the gospel of Grace.

What are your thoughts on the state of "the church" today?

In His Grace,
Rachel Joy