Paul said in Romans 5:20, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” But that radical concept opens a theological floodgate. The biblical writer Jude warned that it is possible to “change the grace of our God into a license for immorality” (Jude 4 NIV). Why be good if you know you will be forgiven? Not even an emphasis on repentance erases this danger completely.

In Romans 6, Paul spoke directly to the point. “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” He gave a short, explosive answer: “Certainly not!” (vv.1-2) and used an analogy that starkly contrasts death and life. “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (v.2). No Christian resurrected to new life should be pining for sin.

Yet wickedness does not always seem to have the stench of death about it. Sin can be downright appealing.

Paul recognized this, so he advised: “Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body” (vv.11-12).

If we truly grasped the wonder of God’s love for us, we would spend our days trying to fathom and share, not exploit, His grace.

I am unworthy to take of His grace,
Wonderful grace so free;
Yet Jesus suffered and died in my place
Even for a soul like me. —Roth

God does not save us by grace so that we may live in disgrace. —Faber

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For all of us who, like Job, have suffered through tragedy and then dared to aim our questions at God, chapter 38 of Job’s book should give us plenty to think about. Imagine what it must have felt like for the great man of the East when “out of the whirlwind” he heard God say, “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me” (vv.1-3). Gulp!

Job must have felt as puny as an ant. As God unveiled His questions in the verses that follow, what He said was as unexpected as it was powerful. He didn’t really answer Job’s “why” questions. Instead, God seemed to be telling him to notice the power and might with which He created this world and to observe His ability to control every element of it. Isn’t that reason enough to trust God? Job should have been asking himself.

As one example of His awesome power, God pointed to the sky and told Job to observe two of His awe-inspiring creations: Pleiades and Orion (v.31). Highlighting His grandeur and man’s relative insignificance, God mentioned two constellations that demonstrate power beyond our understanding.

This is Someone we can trust. If He has the stars in His hands, surely He can take care of us as well.

Creator of the universe
Who reigns in awesome majesty:
How can it be You love and care
For such a one as me? —Sper

He who holds the stars in space holds His people in His hands.

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Love suffers long and is kind . . . —1 Corinthians 13:4

Love is not premeditated—it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it. And when we look back, we are amazed at how unconcerned we have been over our emotions, which is the very evidence that real spontaneous love was there. The nature of everything involved in the life of God in us is only discerned when we have been through it and it is in our past.

The fountains from which love flows are in God, not in us. It is absurd to think that the love of God is naturally in our hearts, as a result of our own nature. His love is there only because it “has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 5:5).

If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we really don’t love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, which flows naturally from His nature within us. And when we look back, we will not be able to determine why we did certain things, but we can know that we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us. The life of God exhibits itself in this spontaneous way because the fountains of His love are in the Holy Spirit.

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Chuck Swindoll’s Daily Devotional: Shrink-Wrapped SalvationChuck Swindoll’s Daily DevotionalReceive a daily devotional message written by Charles Swindoll that brings God’s Word to life.Left

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April 30, 2011Shrink-Wrapped Salvation

by Charles R. Swindoll

Read Exodus 2:15–25

Moses took a forty-story fall. As we pick up the biblical account, he's a heavy-hearted, bruised-and-battered soul who has come to a sudden stop at the bottom. In a matter of mere days, he has stepped off the top of the pyramid as Pharaoh-designate and down to a bedraggled, penniless fugitive on the backside of Zipville.

Living as we do in a product-oriented culture, we like to package our faith too. We prefer to sell a slick, shrink-wrapped version of salvation that includes prosperity and peace, endless happiness here and now, and heaven by and by. While there is nothing wrong with teaching principles that can result in genuine, God-given success, there is something wrong if we neglect to mention the process, which must inevitably include times of defeat and failure.
 
I wouldn't have to go back very far on my calendar to revisit a week where I missed the mark—missed the whole target—more than I hit close to the bull's eye. And I don't have to be a prophet to proclaim that you have experienced the same. Of course you have. You may be having such a week even as you read these words.
 
What I'd like to know is who erected such a happily-ever-after standard of perfection in the first place? God knows very well we aren't able to produce perfection; that's why Jesus, the perfect Son of God, graciously died in our place. That's why He gave us a position of perfect righteousness in Him, reminding us by contrast that our own daily experience will constantly fall short.

If you're waiting for a seamless, blemish-free week, friend, you're going to wait in vain. There is no such thing. And until we learn how to derive lessons from seasons of failure and loss, we will keep repeating those failures—digging ourselves into an ever deeper hole—rather than moving on as we grow up.

What you and I need is the reminder of the process that leads to times of victory and success. Then, with memories of those golden moments shining in our minds, we'll learn how to avoid some of those valleys, or how to climb out of them more quickly. That process, I believe, is every bit as important as the product.

Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Great Days with the Great Lives (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2005). Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

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 My husband, who is a retired minister, use to be asked if such and such was sinful, and he often counseled that if you have to question it, it may not be beneficial.  Also, what we don’t do, we never have to confess as sin later…nor live with the consequences of that sin.  Proverbs gives us another word of advice:

“By mercy and love, truth and fidelity [to God and man, not by sacrificial offerings] iniquity is purged out of the heart, and by reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord men depart from and avoid evil.” Proverbs 16:6 Amplified

So how does this passage tell us we rid ourselves of the iniquity in our hearts?  How do we depart from evil and avoid it? 

When we show mercy, have love, are honest and completely sold out to God, then there is no room for iniquity in our hearts. By mercy we render to others undeserved forgiveness. By love we endure all things. By truth we harbor no guile or deceit. By fidelity we are abandoned to God and that carries over into our relationships with man. And then there is no space for iniquity to dwell within our hearts–it is purged out.

Reverence for God comes from recognizing His dominion over us and yielding ourselves to Him. Worshipful fear of the Lord is living in perpetual awe of His sovereign control and power to send either hurricane winds of force or gentle breezes of comfort. It is recognizing that God is God and I am not. His wisdom surpasses my knowledge. His ways are better than my ways. And when I surrender my will to His will, not only will I depart from evil but I can and will avoid it altogether.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

After we confess our sin, Jesus is faithful to His word.  We are cleansed.  In Him we have complete righteousness.  When I consider these things, I realize how much farther I need to go to purge out iniquity and depart from evil on a daily basis…the distance is as near as my mind’s thought that Jesus has cleansed me from all unrighteousness.  It’s my responisbility to walk in the light, as salt.  Filling my mind, heart, body and soul with that which is merciful, loving, truthful, and pure, further affirms that iniquity is purged .  Each day is another day to do good, to love others, to keep my mind stayed on Jesus, to receive God’s mercies and grace.  I have hidden His Word in my heart that I may not sin against Him.  His promise keeps me safe, His sacrifice set me apart from the sin that tempts my flesh.

May you hide some word in your heart today.  May God fill you to the brim and overflowing with His strength to overcome–to be merciful and kind and loving and truthful.  May you resist the devil and his deceitful ways which seek to destroy you.  May God deliver you from temptation.

© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2011

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