For we, through the Spirit, eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith (Galatians 5:5).
With a wry smile, the old man looked at me and said, “Whenever you take a golf lesson, and the teacher tells you to do one thing, do the opposite, and you will find whatever that is works.”
And the old golf instructor in me responded, “That’s why I teach the opposite.”
To call upon God in the way we do is like a misnomer. We say God is love, and nothing in scripture contradicts this statement. Yet, we pray and entreat His favor as if He is a magician, a fixer of all wrongs, an accommodator of desire.
God is love, for sure. He is also patient until we come to the realization His love is meant to reconcile us to His will and perspective, to take on His qualities. Christian growth has as its end not simply leaving the old life behind but embracing the new life so fully we begin to see our neighbor and enemy as God sees him. This is hard to do and unnatural in human terms.
When a person uses the world, the culture, and the finite as a basis for reasoning, the reasoning is on shaky ground. Christian life begs to do the opposite. Spiritual growth leads the Christian to the fundamentals of his faith as the basis for thought, opposite of the world’s instruction, where reality is the pivot point between cynicism and hope.
The grace fundamentals of hope, mercy, forgiveness and love should not be confused with modern day ideas too well known for omitting mercy and grace. Mankind spends time and intellect attempting to change the quality of God. But He cannot be changed. God calls us to eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith, His righteousness, not ours.
The whole of the Christian life is to know what we are, to know what we do, to know what to do, and to know what we are to become. Ours is to extend to our neighbor not sevenfold but seventy-fold the mercy and grace God has given to us and continues to pour out to us.
We are to give as He gives because, in the end, God believes we are redeemable. We are capable of living out the grace fundamentals. But we must meet Him, receive Him, and join in the journey called Christian growth. After all, when we do not know what we do, too easily do we seek the quick gratification the world offers.
We postpone, even stop, when we should go on into the mystery we name God. Self-gratification compels us to go on self-gratifying when we should stop to remember what God has done for us. And if we knew, we would gladly pass it on.
Consequences come sooner or later. This is the way of life. But God just won’t leave us alone. He desires us to do the opposite of the world, to live out the grace fundamentals. The apostle Paul said as much.
Prayer: Father, help us reexamine our assumptions about how we think and act in the world!