A Reason To Fight

Religiously speaking, we like to think that we are doctrinally right - about everything. The TRUTH is that we are all wrong! Otherwise how can it be that "no one is righteous" and "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God"? You might counter that knowing what's right and doing what's right are two different things. True, but just knowing what's right is not the same as understanding God! We are all in a sad state of error, inadequate understanding, and pitiful connection with God. There is no sadder evidence of our poor understanding of God than our woefully poor understanding of His grace. We can quote the verses, but then we still believe we must earn our salvation. We "Amen" sermons on grace and still "hope we are going to heaven." We believe we have it and still judge others, compare ourselves to others, and seek the affirmation of others. We say we are drawing closer to Him and yet we still feel unforgiven, unworthy, and insecure in our relationship with Him. Our definition of grace is a cliche' and our walk with Him is a constant struggle rather than being overwhelmed by His love for us - that fills us with love, joy, peace, and all the other "natural" heart-level responses that take place when we "get" what His grace really means!
Last Sunday I offered this premise: Our willingness to fight & sacrifice is directly related to the VALUE we give to what we are fighting for. This was to help us understand why Paul told Timothy, and us, to "fight the good fight of faith." If there is no clear sense of value - there is no willingness to fight. His point, which is incredibly important, is that grace gives us the clear sense of value! "The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." Paul points out that this happened to him "the worst of sinners," declaring that he was "a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man" yet he "was shown mercy". So Timothy, how can I not fight the good fight of faith! How about you?(1 Tim.2:12-20)
You see, if we don't understand how amazing His grace is - we lose the value behind the fight! Maybe, no - not maybe, this is why we find it so hard to fight the good fight of faith. It's impossible to really understand His grace and not be motivated to truly be a "living sacrifice" to him.
His love = grace = value = faithfulness! We need to stop thinking of faithfulness as "doing what's right" and start thinking of it as responding to grace!