Mythical Monday: Growth by Grace

Here is the common idea within Christianity today: A Christian’s salvation, oh yeah, that’s by grace through faith, sure, but Christian growth, that’s by working and self-effort. And so, we end up with a belief system that wants Jesus’ blood to save us from Hell but not His life in us to train us in goodness. What does scripture have to say about that? The verse that impacted me the most with regards to this (when I actually paid attention to it) is Paul’s instruction to the Colossians in the 2nd chapter of his letter. “Just as you received Christ as Lord, so walk in Him.” Other versions say, “Just as you received Christ as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him.” So, we have to ask the question, how did we receive Christ? Through self-effort? Through committed works? Through striving? No. We received Christ through faith, and we walk in Him through faith. Salvation is by grace through faith; Christian growth is by grace through faith. Our new life starts by grace through faith, and we continue our lives by grace through faith.

Listen, you don’t have to give up good works or toss aside growth, grace is the author of both things. James teaches us that a faith that is alive will naturally produce good works. That’s what faith does. It is the nature of faith to produce goodness in us resulting in good works coming out of us. Grace will train you to reject sin and live godly (Titus 2:11-12). The excessively abounding nature of grace will cause good works to overflow in your life (2 Cor 9:8). What is the “work” of the Christian life? Philippians says that God is at work in you bringing forth both desire and effort (Phil 2:13). So, the question is, how decent of a job do you think God does at growing good in you? Maybe, just maybe, we can trust Him to get the job done.