An Open Invitation

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,” (Titus 2:11-12)

Have you ever considered "grace" to be a teaching tool? I haven't. But it makes sense. Especially in light of what this commentator says (from bible.crosswalk.com):

It [the Grace of God] directs what to shun and what to follow, what to avoid and what to do. The gospel is not for speculation only or chiefly, but for practice and right ordering of life; for it teaches us, (1.) To abandon sin, 2.) To make conscience of that which is good, and (3.) To look for the glories of another world, to which a sober, righteous, and godly life in this is preparative.

Isn't it cool that "grace" is our disciplinarian instead of "chastisement" or "rebuke" or "the Law?" The gospel is our teacher, instead of some seminar, or a pastor, or a church elder board, or self-help book. How often I fail to really learn what's important for going to the wrong source! How often the discipline I receive comes in ways that are hurtful or damaging because I refuse to listen to the soft, gentle voice of God!

Grace is something that is freely given, I know, but just like the advise of a trusted friend, I have to ask for it and then listen to it in order to receive it's benefits. Sometimes I get hung up at the first part - the asking for it, because God doesn't say, "I stand at the door with an ax ready to break in." The enemy would have me believe I am not capable of receiving God's grace and opening the door. Sometimes my own darn stubbornness is enough to dead-bolt the darn thing (dead-bolt? hmmmm.. interesting terminology considering the consequences of refusing God's offer of grace??). But I have found over and over in my life that God's grace works in miraculous ways. Sometimes I feel like opening the door to invite Him in will take breaking into Fort Knox, but choose to get up and walk over to the barricaded door anyway...as I draw nearer to the handle and the locks, the door dissolves into a curtain, and God steps right in. God is so anxious to be with me! And all the courage I had to muster up to face the enemy, my stubbornness or some other obstacle in the way becomes the very invitation God needed to take care of those issues for me.

Even once I have invited God to enter in, I occasionally fail to listen to what He has to say. Sometimes I feel like we are sitting there staring at each other in one of those massively awkward silent moments and I want to scream - "Say Something!" Other times I simply don't like what He says and ignore it (boy, does that get me in a mess!). A lot of the time God is sitting there, waiting to teach me, but instead is watching me running around like a mad woman being completely distracted with dumb stuff like laundry, organizing, cooking, or worse!

So, what has grace taught me? To say no to the ungodliness of the enemy and my own sin and to live with self-control so that I might have the courage to keep the door open this time instead of kicking Him out as soon as He attempts to do something in my life that's scary (like kill my sin nature or make me do something that seems a little too fanatical or charismatic, etc). What I need to do is simply give God an open-ended invitation. Then I need to sit down, shut up, and listen to what He has to say.