I guess I've been thinking about it more and more in light of the acting out of my salvation, not so much me being saved. Though I must say it could only be a gracious act of God to save such a sinful wretch like me.
No, I've really been thinking more and more about what it means to live in grace, the grace we have right now. The dean of students here at my college, Joe Keller, taught a great little sermon the other day on Titus 2:11-4. He broke the passage down, as I understand John Piper already did, into three main elements: past grace, present grace, and future grace.
Past grace is the salvation that we did not earn and future grace is not only heaven but the future garments of Christ's righteousness which will be ours as we walk in Him.
Present grace, as I already mentioned, was the concept that really hit home. How am I living godly in the present age? One phrase Keller said and I wrote it down in BIG LETTERS at the top of my cute coffee journal (Thanks Rocio :)) was "You don't HAVE to sin."
Did you know that under Christ we don't have to sin? Nope. We are no longer under the law but rather, in a way, conquerors of the law (Romans 7 and 8). Just as Christ conquered the power that the law had to condemn us through fulfillment of that law we are able to live out the law of God in our hearts and live without any fear of condemnation.
How awesome is that???
Of course, we will still sin. We will fall down. But, as one of my professors always says, "the righteous man falls seven times and gets back up." (which is his own paraphrase of Proverbs 24:16)
That's life for ya. But basically, we aren't being chicken-winged (that wrestling move where one guy puts the other's arm behind his back and lifts up so that he's trapped- if you have brothers you know what I mean) into serving Satan's purpose. We have the power of Christ.
So let's live godly in the present age!!! Amen??? Amen!
