We are given common grace the day we are virtually conceived. Food, health, breath, even the capacity to reason which many use to deny God was given lovingly to us by Him. People unquestionably accept common grace, but it is saving grace that some people struggle to accept.
What is it about humans that we can be fundamentally divided on a concept that bodes nothing but good for all mankind? How can one person embrace saving grace while another rejects it when it poses the same benefit for both? It's almost counter-intuitive if you accept that we as humans are naturally inclined to movements that will provide, whether selfishly or not, a better environment in which to live.
So it stands to reason that on some level humans have rejected saving grace based on ignorance…either the ignorance of needing it or the ignorance of change.
If it's the ignorance of needing grace, it is blatantly obvious that we are unbelievers. It's not until we realize that we are to compare ourselves to Christ instead of each other that we become fully aware of our need for grace. To accept that society would have us believe that we are reasonably good based on socially accepted standards is ridiculous. The thought that we are genuinely good people in the eyes of an evil world should make us question instead of confide. It's not until we look outside of this fallen world that we see how sinful we really are...not until God allows us to see the standard to which we will be held will we ever grasp how much we truly need grace.
If it's the ignorance of a changed life, it is blatantly obvious that we are a traitorous race. For if a servant refuses to believe that their master knows what's best for them, how can they logically be considered a loyal servant? We know of grace and some have even dabbled in it, yet we remain ignorant of truly knowing it because we refuse to fully embrace it. We feel as if grace is not an effect of sin but a cause. The skewed notion that grace gives us a free pass to sin as if Christ died to give us an excuse instead of a reason to live in righteousness. Who are we to view the effect of Christ saving us from our sin in a way that we deem most convenient? Romans 6-"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” If you even had this thought I feel you should really examine whether you are saved.
What I struggle with and what I feel every Christian struggles with is the notion that there is some good in me...no matter how small to which I stand on and proclaim that I deserve salvation. This merit/demerit philosophy causes us to unintentionally negate the importance of Christ and the holiness of God. We fail to realize just how sinful and apart from God we are without grace. It's almost as if we can't bring ourselves to believe that God would give us the gift of grace without the ability to do anything to repay Him for such an act of love. We try to justify it by doing some sense of good as a rationalization to ourselves. Almost like it's so counter-intuitive that we struggle to digest it. But because of the perfectly good character of God, it is only by His saving grace and mercy that He chooses to se Christ in us and not our sinful nature.
When will we stop following this legalistic mindset spreading through churches that we somehow can merit salvation? When will we see that a truly wretched people we are? I struggle with the concept as non-Christians but from the other side of the fence...where they wonder why they need grace, I wonder why I deserve it. Which is exactly the point...I don't and never will.
