Passionate Grace

I John 2:8 “Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shinning.”
There seems to me to be a great chasm between my most holy and righteous works and God’s righteousness. It is a chasm unscalable by my great discipline or willpower or ability. It is infinitely high I cannot get there. The law – the command – that I must get there is not meant to imply that I can, simply that I must. And if I don’t destruction awaits.

Viewing God’s righteousness and His righteous demands on me in light of my sinfulness and complete inability to meet those demands should serve not to cause me to try harder but to cause me to abandon all hope in my strength and to cast myself fully on the only one who can save me – Christ Jesus.

In my abandoning of my ability – my will – my righteousness – my pride that says “I will do something for my own salvation,” I am forced into the arms of Grace. Despair in my ability to save or change myself leads me to Christ who says, “My child welcome home! You are loved! You are forgiven! You are brought into the light by faith. Casting all your hope on me alone you are given My righteousness.” Positionally, my standing is the exact same as Christ’s – Perfectly Righteous!

As an adopted child I have been “born of God.” His seed is in me and, while I still have the flesh and sin in this life will never be eradicated, I am always in the light. Further God’s seed is in me, constantly changing me, prompting me to confess and forsake my sin, to love Him, to love my brother… As I by faith embrace the love God initiated to me I am changed more and more into His image. More and more my actions reflect my true standing.

I John 3:2-3 “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself even as he is pure.”