Today Steve and Bob show us that embracing grace and humility leads to obedience. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Those who believe obey. Those who obey believe.”
Obedience is twofold: It is a becoming and a doing. How does grace fit into that? God’s grace is sufficient for us but we have to cooperate and partner with grace. Are we going to do our part? Are we going to obey Jesus? We have to exercise our will under the direction of the Holy Spirit. He wants us to become who He has already created us to be. He wants us to do what He has already designed us to do.
Our wills are very powerful but by themselves they are not sufficient. You can’t do anything you want, contrary to what some people say. We must humble ourselves and embrace humility. . . that’s the most important choice we make in this lifestyle of obedience.
Grace is there for the everyday, for the mundane. . .for when we just don’t feel it. Grace is there for us in our battles with temptation. Grace is there when we are really suffering. Grace doesn’t necessarily change what we are feeling but strengthens us to endure it.
We can have great confidence in the sufficiency of God’s grace. But we have to choose to appropriate grace by faith. We do that by leaning on Jesus and expecting Him to show up.
Steve took a team to China in the summer in the early 90s and on his flight from Tulsa to LA he was tired and emotionally worn out and just didn’t have it in him. Somewhere on that flight he got completely honest with God. He said, “I don’t feel like doing this. . .but I’m in. . .I believe you gave me this assignment. . .but if you don’t show up this is going to be really bad.” Steve appropriated God’s grace by faith. God showed up and Steve and the team had a great outreach and an effective time.
