“Grace is a dynamic force that does more than affect our standing with God by crediting us with righteousness. Grace affects our experience as well…Grace is a way of life.” (Larry Richards)
Grace is a way of life.
Can you think on a time in your life when you decided not to live under God’s grace. A time when you thought, “I can do this myself”, “I got this”, or just had so much confidence in your own abilities that you forged ahead in your own power and strength?
What was your outcome?
I am a huge American Idol fan. It was Season Six, the year Jordan Sparks won, and I remember watching the auditions. In Birmingham, Alabama, a man takes the stage to try for his shot as the American Idol. He doesn’t look the part by any of our standards. He is slightly overweight, wears glasses, has curly hair, and doesn’t seem like the persona we are accustomed to in today’s music industry.
Then he sings, and the purity in his voice is captivating. It is reminiscient to the season Clay Aiken took the stage and people were astonished by the voice coming from this individual. He makes it through to Vegas, and eventually makes the Top 12. He is Chris Sligh.
Then the show went live, and the Top 12 were competing each week for their shot at becoming the next American Idol. I remember watching the season with so many hopes for Chris. He was the one I pegged to win the competition. Then he took the stage.
Something was off. He wasn’t performing correctly. It was as if a different performer had taken the stage. At first I drummed it up to being in front of a live audience, it had to be nerves. But then the next few weeks went by, and he wasn’t getting any better. If anything the competition was getting the best of him, and he was finally voted off on March 28.
I thought that was where the story ended, and really didn’t give Chris Sligh much more thought. Then a few months ago, I was listening to a Christian radio station in our area, and they are talking to former American Idol contestant Chris Sligh. My initial thought was, “Praise God, he found Jesus since the show.” That thought was only partially correct as Chris relayed his story.
Chris is a Christian. Has been for quite sometime. Then he tried out for American Idol and idol got the best of him. Chris speaks of his experience in his song Empty Me. Chris Sligh – Empty Me Video This song is about his true life realization that what started out as a life experience for him on God’s terms, quickly turned into an experiment of Chris operating on his own power.
In his own power, he didn’t get very far.
So it is with my own life. There have been times that I have determined that I can do this thing by myself, and I have fallen flat on my face. God wants us to depend on Him, to make the realization that “Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not pardon.” (John Piper)
As we walk through our decisions of grace today, let us remember that “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (II Corinthians 9:8, NIV)
Choose grace – it is a way of life!
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