Like a ball and chain

I've been thinking about grace a lot lately. There are two ways grace can affect people. One way, is freedom. Grace can allow us to live in freedom. For example, a few months ago Zach and I went out to Steak and Shake with some buddies from school. I had no money. He paid for me. I was free to enjoy my milkshake:) I knew that he understood I had no money even as I got into his car. He wasn't hanging the fact over my head. He simply paid for me, and I paid him back later. There were no misunderstandings.

Another way though, is bondage. I know this sounds funny... but I keep seeing this. People living in bondage to grace. Including myself. I am in no way exempt from this. I think we've all been in a situation where someone "spotted" us when we were low on cash. But then the owed expense weighed over our heads. We felt the weight. Even though it began with grace.

Ok, so those were kinda silly, small examples of freedom vs. bondage. But think about it. It's the same way with God. He's given us grace. He's our Savior. He gave everything so we could be understood. Forgiven. He gave everything so that He could give us grace.

Grace should give us freedom. Obviously not freedom to be stupid and continue living in sin, but freedom and peace in mind. Second Timothy 1:7 says God has given us a Spirit of a sound mind. No chaos of heart. Peace.

Ephesians 2:11-22 talks all about how God made peace with us. He is our peace. I love Ephesians 2:17, that says, "He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near." I think that's beautiful.

Second Corinthians 3:17 says that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The point I'm trying to make is this. There is beautiful, unquenchable freedom and peace in the Spirit of God. And I want that for my life. I do not want to be in a place where I'm constantly using grace like a ball and chain. The kind of burden that I'll never be able to get out form under. I will never be able to repay the Lord for what He's done for me. I will never be able to attempt giving Him what He deserves from me. I can't even give Him anything compared to what He's done for me. And here's what's hilarious. He knows that.

The fact is, He died so we could have the freedom His Spirit gives. He died so that the ball and chain would have no power over us. Grace is not a burden. But sometimes we still live in such "humility" of His overwhelming grace, we fail to take hold of what is ours. We are His workmanship, and we are part of His family. Therefore, we receive the inheritance of His victory on the cross.

I can't stand it when all we talk about as Christians is "I'm so small." and "God is just so big." Ok, these statement are true. But the truth here is not just serving as truth. There are times when we're not just putting ourselves in our place next to God. Sometimes we're putting God in a miniature box on the shelf. We have the Spirit of God in us! It's immeasurable! It's too big for us! But it's there! It's in us! So when we put ourselves down, we diminish what God has done in us. We take away from what He's given us.

I've been getting increasingly frustrated when I hear things like, "Why would God save a freak like me?" When we're already saved, and living in relationship with God. Hello! Enough of this! We have got to live in boldness in the Spirit. We have to live in the confidence that He has done what He has done. He has given us every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3). We lack nothing in Him. So now what? We have to live in it. We have to chop off the ball and chain, because you know what? That ball and chain is not grace. It's not even the beginnings of being of God. And if it's not of God, then it's of Someone else. And we should not bare even a hint of anything form anyone else.

When we live in the freedom of the Spirit of God, we have the boldness to seek and ask for more of Him. We have the confidence to receive more of Him, and do greater things for and through Him.

If we are to sit back in the depths and crevices of our menial humanity, we can't do anything. We sit back, and absorb what it feels like to be an object of grace, not a receiver of grace. Not a receiver who absorbs the fullness of what grace actually is.

I don't want to be a Christian who lives in bondage to "grace." If I'm really receiving grace, and taking hold of it, it gives me freedom. It gives me life, and joy, and strength and boldness. It gives me fullness to dream and live in the fullness of God, and the ability to grasp how wide, and long, and high and deep is the love of Christ. It gives me freedom to receive what He's offered me through His blood. I want it.