Grace is Free

When I was at Duke Divinity School, I took a lot of preaching classes. One day in preaching class, the professor asked a student how long he worked on his sermon. The student said he didn’t work on sermons. God gave him the words on the way to church. The professor quickly said his sermon sounded like it. The professor taught us that we should study an hour for each minute we preached. The professor was telling us that the Holy Spirit would bless us, but only if we worked hard to determine what the text was saying. The same is true for all of us. The Lord will work in all of us through the Holy Spirit, not because we deserve it, but because it is a free gift.

Abraham’s life demonstrates this. At times, he failed as a husband. He put Sarah’s life in jeopardy by lying to save himself (Genesis 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Galatians 3:6 tells us “Yet his faith was credited to him as righteousness.” Abraham put himself in God’s hands despite his failures, and God used him to bring salvation to the world through his lineage.

There is no justification for behaving badly or being lazy. Jesus has asked us to follow Him in obedience, and He supplies the means to do so. A hard, unrepentant heart will always hinder His purposes for us. Not spending the time to prepare a sermon will not produce good results, just as much as thinking one doesn’t have to obey God’s will. God’s ability to use us doesn’t depend on a lengthy pattern of good behavior. It’s based solely on God’s willingness to work through us as we are: saved and growing by grace.

You don’t have to work for God’s grace – it’s free!

Prayer: I’m thankful, God, that You bless me and use me in spite of my failures. Your grace is amazing! Amen.

Galatians 3:3 – “After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?”

By the Rev. Tommy Herndon
Image: Jacob Bentzinger/Unsplash