Practical Grace

As I read through the Bible each year, I’m amazed how several different authors writing over a period of hundreds of years arrived at such harmony. The understanding of God’s people, while incomplete at times still hangs together when looked at in total. The thinking about faith and walking in faith does not vary that much between the Old and New Testaments.

For instance, 1 Chronicles 29:15 says, “For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow, and without hope.”

The writer expresses how the people of God are not at home in this world. Then and now, those who know the Lord know this sense of feeling like strangers here. Our real home is in heaven; we are simply passing through this one. My devotional reading (edited a bit) explains this sense of being an alien here is the result of grace.

If you possess the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you, like them, confess that you are a stranger; and your confession springs out of a believing heart and a feeling experience. You feel yourself a stranger in this ungodly world; it is not your element, it is not your home. You are in it during God’s appointed time, but you wander up and down this world a stranger to its company, a stranger to its maxims, a stranger to its fashions, a stranger to its principles, a stranger to its motives, a stranger to its lusts, its inclinations, and all in which this world moves as in its native element. Grace has separated you by God’s distinguishing power; though you are in the world, you are not of it.

This author goes on to say that anyone who feels at home in the world and feels as if this is their element, and feels akin to the world’s maxims, fashions, and principles, it is because grace has not reached their heart and the faith of God’s elect does not dwell in them.

As he says, the first effect of grace is to separate. Abraham, who is called the father of faith, was called by grace to leave the land of his fathers and go to a land that God would show him. It is the same for God’s people now. 2 Corinthians 6:17 says, “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty.”

Separation from the world is the distinguishing mark of true godliness. This is not a mere separation of body (“I don’t smoke, drink or chew, nor do I run with the girls who do”) but a separation of heart. When grace touches a sinners heart, values change and the things that appeal to me change. I no longer am interested in bigger, better, more, or impressing people with what I have or do. This didn’t happen overnight, but grace is persistent. God, in His loving way, grabs hold of me every day and shows me that I am His, that my real home is not here but in heaven, and that this feeling of being an alien is completely normal for His children.

How is this practical? Yesterday, I wrote about not envying those whose lives are taken up with bigger, better and more. Today God reminds me again that grace changes those values and removes me from that realm.

As we listen to news about the current financial crisis in Wall Street and how those whose roots are in this world are fearful of losing their lifestyle, it is obvious that their sense of security is being shaken. While I care about what happens to those who are poor, grace gives me a reliable sense of security and takes away any concerns I might have for myself. My stay is temporary and I know that I am under the care of my heavenly Father. He is responsible for my well-being. Because of that, whatever happens to what I own or don’t own, or to a failing stock market is not a concern. Living without fear in days like these is extremely practical!