Many Christians believe that as they are better able to discipline themselves, God’s grace becomes available to them. Actually, the opposite is true. It is God’s grace that gives us the ability to discipline ourselves. As we become more dependent on God to empower us in these areas of discipline and apply the grace God gives us, we will mature as Christians.
In order to truly experience God’s grace, we must be disciplined in the area of obedience. This is the area I struggle with most in my life. Jesus told His disciples that “if you love Me, you will keep My commandments. Jesus also expounded on this by saying in
We also must be dependent on God in order to experience the fullness of His grace. Dependence must be accompanied by discipline. Just as an airplane needs both wings to fly to great altitudes, we need discipline and dependence to soar to the heights of God’s amazing grace. Once we truly acknowledge our utter dependence on God and ourselves out of the picture, only then will our lives be open to God’s leading and direction.
Commitment plays a big role in a pursuit of holiness and grace. First, we need to be committed to living a life that is pleasing to God. It is a resolute commitment. Commitment is a choice. Whatever plan of action we take in our Christian life speaks to our commitment level. If we are to aim to live lives free of sin, we must be committed to the example left for us by Jesus and God’s Word. In order to truly understand God’s grace, we must search our hearts and see how committed we are to the cause of Christ. If we are not willing to commit by giving control of our lives to Christ, how can we expect others to do the same?
As we grow in our relationship with God, we develop convictions based on our beliefs. If we are truly walking with God and have a healthy growing relationship with Him, our convictions will be based on the Word of God. Once we begin to compromise and mix the philosophy of the world into our faith, our convictions are weakened. In order to truly experience a growth toward holiness, w must know and make God’s conviction our own. We must know Him so well that we should not have to think before we make a decision. Our convictions influence our choices. Each choice we make either brings us closer to God or drives us further away from Him. As Christians, we need to seek God’s will in every choice we make no matter how trivial we think it might be. God has a plan and purpose for our lives. One wrong choice can alter the plan and blessing He wants to give us. We must consider every choice a life-altering decision.
God gives us the discipline of adversity as a means of our sanctification. This area has had the biggest impact in my life. Our role in this discipline is to respond to it and acquiesce to whatever God may be doing, although a particular instance of adversity makes no sense to us. As we do this, we will see in due time the fruit of the Spirit produced in our lives.
God’s grace is something that we never truly will understand this side of heaven. He loves us so much that He has given us something we do not deserve. He sent His Son to die for us and give us eternal life. All He asks of us is to be fully committed to Him. Once we begin to practice the basic disciplines of faith, we truly will see the power of God’s grace at work in our lives. For most of us, this is a daily battle; but if we continue to stay close to God and seek His will, He will open the floodgates and shower us with His amazing grace.
