It's not that simple
God's grace is a lot harder in the natural to comprehend. I know for sure that the knowledge that I have this unfettered access to everything that my God offers to the whole world also leads me to become egotistical and self-centered. Let me explain. I read a news story about dangerous speed racing on public access highways among teenage kids using their Lamborghini and Porsche sports cars. These kids were using their parent's cars for their own thrills - a very self-gratifying experience. Now, who is to blame for these kids' dangerous lifestyle? Some blame the kids for bragging too much. They want to be accepted by their peers so they abuse their parent's generosity and grace just to impress their friends. Some people blame the parents for raising entitled children who they allow to grow up without rules and tell them that they can do all they want. I don't know for sure who's to blame. I don't have the complete picture. I don't have the benefit of knowing the history of those kids and their parents. One thing I can be certain is that understanding the grace of God isn't just as easy as juxtaposing it in the example given above. God is not some irresponsible parent. And we the kids are not always trying to impress our peers. However, the parallel ideas establish for me a framework for understanding how grace is defined in proper context.Living on faith
As a Christian, I live on the faith that Jesus came down to save the whole world from themselves. He came down to save me from myself. This is called the amazing grace. So that all who believe in him shall have eternal life. I live by faith on this promise everyday. So, my faith activates this promise that God so freely gave to me. This presupposes that if I don't believe in God and Jesus, the promise doesn't work. I am not going to explain about people who don't believe in God in this post. Frankly, not believing in God doesn't exclude someone from experiencing the effects of being separated from Him.Now someone, who believes in God, might ask, "what is the benefit of eternal life?" My answer is, "Don't you want to live forever? And if you were to live forever, don't you want to be also forever young, forever healthy, forever successful in all that you do, and forever happy in every circumstance?" Well, I want that eternal life living healthy, successfully, and forever happy. I can jumpstart that process now by believing in Jesus and his amazing grace while I am still naturally alive. Everybody dies a natural death because of sin. I live in a broken world because of the sin committed by my first ancestor, Adam. After natural death, eternity continues on. So, if I am living crappily in my natural life what do I think my life will be in eternity? It will be hell for sure. Fortunately for me, my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, came down to earth 2000 years ago. He lived in the natural knowing no sin, doing no sin, and having no sin in his body. But he died an agonizing death on the cross and his body took every sin from every person who lived, who were living at the time, and who are going to be born. And when he said, "It is finished", he meant that sin no longer has a hold on me. He did the work, I reap the benefits. He was punished and killed and he was and is the only person in history to be killed as truly innocent. Then, when he rose again, he made us right with God and our godlessness is once and for all forgiven. Again, I emphasize that you can't have this perfect forgiveness without first believing in God and believing in Jesus' saving work.
Uhhmm... Uhhmm...
I know people who subscribe to the new age philosophy that basically says, "I live in harmony with the universe. The universe provides me with every tool that I need to be happy. This consciousness of myself lives within me and I have to free it up to reach my potential in life. I create my own destiny. My future belongs to me." It's sad to think that new age people are as blinded as the gnostics in ancient Palestine and the whole Greek world. These people think that the universe they worship is the true God and do not realize that the universe is only a creation and thus has no spiritual value whatsoever. I digress, but this life philosophy is prevalent in modern mysticism and the arts and entertainment world. It is an intoxicating idea that I can do everything myself. There's a morsel of truth here but it's not the complete truth. You see this new age thinking can lead me to think that "I, alone, am responsible for everything that happens in my life." Can you see how this philosophy can bring destruction to one's own being?I am not buying the new age philosophy because
First of all, no one man can do everything by himself. Simple illustration: I am not a good singer if I am unable to convince another person that I am a good singer. In other words, I need that other person's confirmation that I am a good singer. But what if I already know that I'm not a good singer. Well, I can ask a good vocal coach to teach me how to sing. Did I then, do this alone? Granted, I took it upon myself to enlist someone's help. Technically, I still did it myself. So, the partial truth is, I can do things on my own. But the complete truth is, I still need someone else to validate my success. What does this tell me. It tells me that every joy and peace we experience in life, is not something that we can attribute to ourselves only but also to everyone who had a part in it. Joy, peace, love are relational and thus they are shared experiences.Secondly, self-belief leads to a big ego. I don't know about everyone else, but I don't relish the idea of spending and sharing time with an egotistical person. No two egotists can co-exist in the same vicinity. They devour everything leaving out nothing for everyone.
Lastly, believing that I alone can do everything to make me happy, involves too much work. One universal truth I've learned is that the more work I put into achieving happiness, the more work that I have to do to keep it. Just think, if someone robs me of that happiness I worked so hard to achieve, I might end up in either of two places: in jail or in the asylum.
You can be with everybody but still feel lonely
Wikipedia defines loneliness like this, "Loneliness is a complex and usually unpleasant emotional response to isolation or lack of companionship. Loneliness typically includes anxious feelings about a lack of connectedness or communality with other beings, both in the present and extending into the future. As such, loneliness can be felt even when surrounded by other people." It's interesting that even when you surround yourself with all the happiest people you can find who can infect you with their zest for life, you can still feel lonely. Jesus' love and mercy, indeed his amazing grace can rescue you from that loneliness. You can feel his presence through his Word in the bible. You can experience his joy and peace in your mind when you read his salvation work throughout the bible.Living in grace, for me, means that I am not alone in my loneliness. It is a mental state in which I can work while resting and then achieving so much. This, as opposed to working tirelessly just to maintain a fleeting moment of happiness. Living in grace also means that I live in gratitude for what Christ has done for me. There is an eternity beyond my natural life so I should live life with a purpose. A purpose to live by faith so that my faith can lead me to experience all the benefits of God's grace right now while I am still living physically. God's grace is a free gift of salvation from the effects of sin, that is, suffering, condemnation, and illnesses. And because I live in grace, I possess the antidote to death.
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