“God is good, God is great. Thank you for the food. Amen.” This is what grace meant to me. A scripted prayer to halfheartedly give thanks for the fried chicken and broccoli that I was about to eat for dinner. As a young boy, and then into my early teens, I attended a small church that my mother dragged me to each Sunday. I would like to tell you I was led by the Spirit to go there but that was simply not the case. I went there out of fear… Fear that a Holy God would one day return and find me not living right and send me to a scary place called hell. After all, He saved me by grace so now I had to live up to my part of the bargain and try my hardest to show Him that I really mean business. This time, again…

I remember during the Friday night youth services held each week in the church basement, I’d be the first one to the alter when the youth pastor gave the alter call. And why not, I had to get saved AGAIN… I had a terrible week, I committed a boat load of sin. If God returned and I wasn’t ready, the lake of eternal fire awaited me. Sadly, a large percentage of you who are reading this are confused because you’re not sure if I’m being honest or sarcastic. It sounds right doesn’t it? Ask God to forgive you then try your best to show Him that you really love Him. I ask you to forgive me if I went too far in my description but I’m trying to highlight a point. Eighty five percent of people who say they are Christians today think if they live a good life God will take them to heaven. But how good do you have to be? Good compared to some poor crack addict who’s living in the street or good compared to the life Jesus lived as a man? Neither one will be the measurement used by God the day you see Him face to face. Ephesians 2:8-9 is my favorite verse in the bible and it says this, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith –and this not from yourselves, it (salvation) is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.” This verse was quoted to me by a close pastor friend as I was downing a bottle of Stoli Vodka on the steps of his house about twenty five years ago. God accepts me not because I’m trying to be a good boy, He accepts me because I put my faith in His son. Period.

Now, I know what you’re thinking and I will try, with His help, to answer that shortly. As a believer, the grace of God is not only the power that saves us from sin but it is also the power that renews us and allows us to live the life of victory over that same sin that once held us captive. I have found that trying to battle sin in my own strength only got me frustrated and discouraged. I thought that somewhere deep inside, if I really tried hard I can overcome sin’s powers. I wish when I was a boy someone would have told me that “…nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.” (Romans 7:18) Not some good things. Nothing at all.

Christianity is not about trying in your own power, it’s all about “trusting.” If you’re like I was, you never knew that grace had the power not only to save you but to keep and strengthen you as well. (Titus 2:11) explains it perfectly: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It (grace) teaches us to say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly passions, AND (teaches) to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…” Notice grace is “offered” by God, not forced on anyone. We receive it by faith. If you’re battling with a besetting sin that really has a hold on you, I can understand perfectly. I’ve had and still fight them on a daily basis. Paul said, “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” (Romans 7:21) I guess Paul struggled with sin as well. He relied on God’s grace to hold him every day. The biggest mistake is to try to fight sin head on in your own strength. Trying harder tomorrow won’t be the antidote to victory. The only way to defeat the clutches of sin is to call on Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit for the strength needed to overcome sin’s powers. Jesus said “apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) He designed it that way. He wants His children to call on Him every day for everything we need. Especially for the power to overcome Satan and his evil plans for your life. Here on earth we will battle with sin until the day we are called home to be with Him. We are in a fight, but we can win this fight by His strength not on our own.

So with God’s help let me try to answer the question you have. If I’m saved by grace then my actions have nothing to do with my salvation, I can live as loosely as I want, right? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Never are we to use grace as a “license to sin.” When you get saved, God puts His Holy Spirit inside you and by the Spirit’s guiding, you become more conscious of living the godly life that you were meant to live. Not by trying but by using His strength to overcome the thing that seems to have its hold on you. Paul said we are to “Examine [ourselves] to see whether [we] are in the faith,” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Make sure the Holy Spirit is guiding you to live a more Holy life “…unless, of course, you fail the test.” (2 Corinthians 13:5) The one and only true mark of a Christian is that we have His Spirit living in us. I pray that the remaining verse from Ephesians 2 will encourage you, while you trust Him in your battle to live a victorious life. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

It’s God working in you that will make you the person you WILL become. He takes the responsibility of creating in us the people He wants us to be so in the end we can’t boast that we did anything on our own.

He gets all the glory. He has worked out and will complete the plan He has for your life.

Just believe…

May His Grace be with you.