But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. -- 1 Corinthians 15:10
This will brief, a kind of continuation or riff on yesterday’s
post. If what Paul says is true – and it
is, then the error of self and the world system in general is trying to be
something other than what we are by the grace of God. We fall when we resist God’s grace. It is as the drowning man who is so panicked
that he fights his rescuer. We can get
on the train and ride, or, we can stand in front of it and try to stop it.
We can trust God and believe that He is actively involved in
and with us, or we can become bitter and resentful. There’s a difference that the world often
misses – I’ve missed it as a Christian – between resistance and
resentment. I can resist evil without becoming
resentful.
I recall a line in True
Grit where Tom Chaney laments, “Everything happens to me, and now I'm shot
by a child!” It is a powerful insight into
the weakness in Chaney’s character. There are many times
when I have not done much better. If we
allow ourselves to always be aggrieved and offended by the troubles that come
our way, we are never going to become the people God wants us to be. We overcome not by umbrage and anger, or even
excess spinach consumption, but by faith
and trust, by resting in Him. As Isaiah
30:15 says: For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and
rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
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