The one and only effective way to walk in righteousness is by grace.Now, I really do anticipate the rest of my life being an investigation of this one truth. Because the thing is, though I believe it with all my heart, I really don't understand it. My question is simple: how does this righteouness by grace look in real life?
A note: we all need to resist the tendency to transform truth into mere truism. That's when something difficult and lofty is brought low, supposedly for the sake of understanding, but having the effect of actually preventing real thought about the matter. It's not a falsification of the truth, only a gross simplification, some form of words that we content ourselves with in lieu of real thought. It's something like copying Van Gogh's Starry Night with a paint-by-number set.
As an alternative, it's good to begin our thinking about these things with something like David's recognition of the limits of his own understanding. He, in considering the omnipresence of God, simply confessed,
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot obtain it. [Ps. 139:6]But let's get back to what my pastor said. I've spoken to a few people about it, but to be quite honest they seemed to be uncomfortable with the asking of difficult questions about matters of faith. Everyone wants to avow that grace is a wonderful thing, but grace as power to walk in righteousness, man, that's a deep river.
I don't intend to say any more than that. It's deep. I cannot touch the bottom.
