“ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)

I should also mention the verse that follows this one says: “We are His workmanship...” (10). If we claim to have given our hearts/lives to Jesus years ago...and yet still ‘sputter, stumble, and sin’ on a regular basis, as most will freely admit to doing...what does that say about God’s ‘workmanship’? I thought if we were truly abiding in Jesus, that we were being ‘conformed to His image/likeness’ (Rom. 8:29) and ‘ought to be walking as Jesus walked’ (1 John 2:6)...where ‘all men would know we are His disciples by the love we demonstrate’ (John 13:34-35)?

Oh, but you were taught to believe that this will never happen on ‘this side of heaven’... which is why we rely so heavily on God’s ‘grace’ to ‘save us’? Maybe we should take another look at what this ‘grace’ is...and ‘how it works’. Do you think there is any remote possibility that we’ve been ‘wrong’ in our understanding as to what God’s ‘grace’ is all about?

Over the past 45 years, I’ve had the opportunity on more than a few occasions to help build a few homes, remodel a few rooms, build a garage, and other similar construction projects, which I always enjoyed learning how to do. And there is a particular phrase you hear often throughout the various stages of the construction process that goes something like this: If the framers are not careful and have a few walls that are not ‘square’, or are ‘off a little bit’...instead of correcting the problem, they are quick to suggest that the ‘sheetrock crew will make up for it'.

If the sheetrock contractors get lazy, or fail to adjust for walls that are not perfectly square, you see ‘gaps’ that should not be there; but instead of being more careful with their cutting to make the rock fit...they shrug their shoulders and hand off the imperfections expecting the ‘tape and bedders’ to correct the problem. And when that crew comes in and fails to do a ‘perfect’ job, they assure you that the painters will ‘fix’ the gaps with their caulk and painting skills. Those poor painters can be expected to be ‘miracle workers’ at times.

Why do I bring up this analogy? Well...I can remember on more than one occasion, using painters caulk as an illustration as to how ‘grace’ works in our lives as ‘believers’. I would point out (long ago) that with all our ‘imperfections and flaws’ as human beings, that we will always remain imperfect and flawed... and that it is God’s ‘grace’ that fills in all those ‘glaring gaps’ in our lives ...so in the end...we ‘look’ ...brand new and ‘like Christ’. That makes for a great, but disappointingly flawed illustration...I have to confess.

Friends...we were warned repeatedly in scripture that many would come and distort the message of God’s ‘grace’...and I could do it with the best of them, more out of ignorance, but still... God’s grace is not some tube of ‘holy caulk’ that ‘covers’ or compensates for our 'deficiencies'.

So allow me to have another shot here at explaining what God’s grace is, and how it ‘works’ in our lives. To start with...we are told that God ‘gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud’ (James 4:6). Do you know one way in which we demonstrate humility? When we admit that we are incapable of doing something on our own...and then seek help from someone else to ‘get the job done’.

What has Jesus called us to be...and do? Well for starters, He said we were to ‘be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect’ (Matt. 5:48). And He tells us to ‘go and sin no more’ (John 5:14; 8:11).

Other writers admonish us to “be holy as He is holy” (1 Pet. 1:15-16) since ‘without holiness, no one will see the Lord’ (Heb. 12:14). We are reminded that we are to ‘walk in the light as He is in the light’ (1 John 1:7) and that ‘IF...we are abiding in Christ, we ought to walk as He walked’...and will no longer practice sin’ (1 John 2:6; 3:6). Anyone feeling ‘humbled’ yet? Yeah...me too!

And yet, we continue to ‘try harder to do better’ on our own, which is nothing but pride ...and is the opposite of ‘humility’. But here’s where we get mixed up with how grace has been presented. We seem to think that when we reach that place of admitting to our flawed and helpless 'human condition', that God just reaches down with a tube of ‘grace caulk’... and somehow ‘fills in our gaping areas of deficiency’ before ‘calling it a day’ as we all sing ‘Amazing Grace...that saved a wretch like me...’

But what if there is ‘more to it’...and we just have been deceived? You do realize that ‘deceived people don’t know they are ‘deceived’, yes?

Do you have Titus 2:11-12 underlined in your Bible? If not, go do that now- “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age...”

You might also underline the phrases “teaching us’ and ‘denying ungodliness’. That is what God’s grace does, and not only does it ‘teach us to live righteously’, but it also ‘empowers us with God’s power to do...what we could never do on our own, in our own strength and ability...no matter how hard you tried, or how badly you wanted to ‘live right’ for God.

Now look at Hebrews 4:15-16. We are told that we have a ‘High Priest’ (in Jesus) who can sympathize with our weaknesses, given He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin’ (15). Now hold your place there and flip back and read Heb. 2:18, where we read how Jesus ‘suffered when tempted and is able to aid those (us) who are tempted’. Care to guess how He does that? Go back now and read 4:16 where we are invited/encouraged to ‘come with confidence (boldly) to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and... find grace... to help us in our time of need.”

Why...would any of us refuse to make use of God’s grace...when we need it most, which is when we are tempted to rebel against God’s word by an enemy who is stronger than us? It’s not ‘flesh and blood’ that we are contending with when tempted to sin. (Eph. 6:12). You are no match for this ‘roaring lion’ whom we are told to ‘resist’ (1 Pet. 5:8-9). You’re gonna need something much stronger and more effective than anything you have in order to be ‘saved’.

Try this word picture on for size- “Grace is for us, what spinach was for Popeye!”

We 'Christians' can sure send out a lot of conflicting messages, by the things we say and do. We're quick to make it known that 'nobody can live a 'sinless' life...and walk like Jesus'; but then we like to proudly claim and quote Phil. 4:13 - "I can do ALL things through Christ...who strengthens me."  So which is it?

Join me tomorrow?