We inherited shame from our mom and dad, Adam and Eve. They blew it big time and their first reaction to their mess-up was to feel ashamed and cover themselves and Paul clearly tells us that their foolishness became our foolishness, too Romans 5:12. A whole lot of darkness descending quickly.
Shame is the almost imperceptible voice that whispers we are offensive, worthless, and good for nothing. Pride steps into our lives to prove that this is not true.
I can make something of myself!
I can do it.
I can break this addiction or behavior.
We try and try and try and try harder. Sometimes gaining traction, but mostly falling further. We work like crazy to get-it-right. Whatever that it is in the moment: our family, workplace, school, a relationship, church or our walk with Jesus. Our compelling need to accomplish can sidetrack us from grace: education, position, status, financial success, perfect children, a clean house – an unending list of must-do or must-haves that almost drive us into the ground.
This can be particularly true in the body of Christ. I mean really. How many ministers have blown-up, burnt-out, had affairs, absconded with money, or ditched their faith altogether? I can say this because, as a pastor with my husband, we have seen this scenario repeated over and over in many lives. I came close to becoming a casualty of the pride-shame scenario myself.
The unrelenting grace of God can be a hard pill to swallow. It should be the spoonful of sugar, but if we take a good hard look at what we really believe about God, grace is the medicine we tend to choke on. Nevertheless, the Bible tells us that to not receive His lavish favor and acceptance is a fall from grace.
In modern vernacular, a fall from grace takes place when a rising politician or celebrity takes a nose-dive from an ascent to the top of their game. The individual does something really stupid. Or we might think fall from grace is when we stumble into something dumb that we know isn’t good for us and probably doesn’t make Jesus real happy either. Or when we continue to struggle with the junk in our lives we just can’t seem to get past.
Well, Paul has a different idea of what a fall from grace is:
"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." Galatians 5:4 NLT
For the Jews in Rome whom Paul was addressing here, trusting their own good works and striving to perform the law of Moses was tantamount to a fall from the free gift of God’s grace. We generally experience a different facet of this line of thinking.
For us today, we may consider that the Biblical view of a fall from grace is when we think it is up to us to get our act together, get the proverbial it right, or by thinking we can work or perform better to earn His bountiful grace. We fall from grace when we don’t believe His grace applies to us or an area of our life where we can’t get our act together. We fall from grace when we live believing that our struggles in the dark – our sin – is greater than His sacrifice and forgiveness. Unbelief is the fall, not the thing we are so concerned might keep us from grace. This puts a different spin on appropriating grace in our lives. Especially in the dark.
(To be continued next week…thanks for hanging with me…)