Charisa Stories

Tag: romans 6

  • One Item Is Not Covered by Grace

    I talk about grace so much that the auto-suggest on my phone pops up the word as soon as I hit “G”. I suspect that sometimes you faithful readers wish I would mix up my topics. The truth is I cannot. Understanding grace rocked my spiritual world and changed my walk with God in dramatic and wonderful ways.

    I regularly extol the virtues of grace for a follower of Jesus. Grace compels you to trust others with you. Grace compels you to trust Jesus with your sin because you can’t manage it yourself. Grace compels you to forgive because you have been forgiven. Grace compels you to accept others and not judge them. Grace compels you to move toward the unlovable and not away. Grace compels you to sacrifice when you desire security. Grace compels you to love when your heart is hateful. Grace compels you to trust Jesus out of overflowing gratitude.

    The amazing thing about God’s grace is that He is not a God of a second chance. He is a God of chance after chance after chance ad infinitum. We are never outside God’s redeeming grace, no matter how much or how often we blow it.

    But there is one thing that God’s amazing grace does not cover.

    The consequences of intentional sin. Paul makes it very clear.

    Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. (Galatians 6:7, NLT)

    I have been deeply saddened and sometimes angered by followers of Jesus who blithely act in ways that are clearly against God’s Word and then proclaim that His grace will cover them. Some call that cheap grace. I cannot label a gift bought with such a price “cheap”.

    To borrow from my brother Saint Paul, here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: grace can never be viewed as a cheap gift. It cost Jesus everything. I challenge you to kneel at the foot of the Cross and look up. There is nothing cheap about the transaction that Jesus suffered for you and me. Nothing causes me to lose my Sunday school lesson quicker than the cheap-grace posse. And yes, I know that some people misuse and misinterpret grace. There is a word for that.

    Sin.

    The truth is that grace is the only real antidote for sin and should never, ever, be the excuse for sin. Paul addressed the heresy that grace gives me license to sin, and he was rightfully dismayed (you might even say ticked off).

    Sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?

    Absolutely not!

    Romans 6:14-15, NET (emphasis added)

    Here is a sampling of other translations of Paul’s undisguised chagrin expressed in Romans 6:15 at the very thought that the sweet grace of the Gospel would be abused:

    God forbid! (KJV)
    Of course not! (NLT)
    May it never be! (NASB)
    By no means! (ESV)

    Clearly Paul is appalled by the idea that we would even consider using this sacrificial gift of unmerited grace as cover for selfish behavior and sin.

    Frederick William Faber is credited with this observation.

    “God does not save us by grace so that we may live in disgrace.”

    Grace will provide forgiveness for sin but not escape from it’s consequences. Betrayal of a spouse may make you temporarily feel better but you do not escape the weight of that sin on those you hurt and on your own heart. Just read the terrible consequences of David’s adultery and you recognize that even a king described as a “man after God’s own heart” cannot dodge the effects of sin. Anytime you rationalize sin by saying that grace has you covered you have bought a lie from the Enemy.

    Grace was costly. Grace was painful for God the Father to implement. If you are tempted to abuse that grace perhaps you should review if you really understand the cost paid to make it possible. Grace covers everything. Except the pain left behind in the wake of selfish sin.

  • Don’t Let the Old Man In

    Toby Keith wrote a song called “Don’t Let the Old Man in” that was inspired by Clint Eastwood. The song has incredibly helpful applications in my life as I grow older and as I grow as a Christian. Let me explain.

    Keith wrote the song after a conversation with Eastwood while they were playing golf. Clint was about to celebrate his 88th birthday by going to film a new movie. Toby Keith was blown away and asked him “how do you do it, man?” Eastwood answered, “I just get up every morning and go out. And I don’t let the old man in.”

    That stuck in Toby Keith’s mind and he penned the song that was featured in the movie “The Mule”. The lyrics are inspiring for me in this season of life.

    Don’t let the old man in
    I wanna leave this alone
    Can’t leave it up to him
    He’s knocking on my door

    And I knew all of my life
    That someday it would end
    Get up and go outside
    Don’t let the old man in

    I love that. As the mileage piles up on the life odometer the aches and pains make it easy to slow down and quit pushing yourself. Challenging yourself to get out and live life as fully as you can for as long as you can is enormously fulfilling.

    Many moons I have lived
    My body’s weathered and worn
    Ask yourself how would you be
    If you didn’t know the day you were born

    I have a few moons to catch up to Clint Eastwood but I need to follow his example. I am still young at heart and my goal is to live out of that feeling for as long as I can. Don’t let the old man in to convince me my time to live life joyfully and fully is diminished. Eventually that will happen. But I want to leave it all on the life playing field until I no longer can.

    There is another area of life that I must concentrate on not letting the old man in. This is actually way more valuable in how I live my life than simply trying to age well. In the Bible Paul talks about how all of us are born with the “old man” or sin nature of Adam. When we decide to follow Jesus we become a new creation and a “new man” now resides in me. Simply put the old man is who I was before I knew Jesus. The new man is who I am now that I am a follower of Christ.

    Paul talks about the finished work of Jesus on the Cross that gives the new man in me the power to change my frustrating responses when the old man ruled my life. Jesus conquered the old man and gave me a new man within.

    ”We know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin would no longer dominate us, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
    ‭‭(Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭6,‬ ‭NET)

    ‬‬The old man was crucified. That means the old man is dead. I am a new creation and that new man living in my heart gives me the power to live more like Jesus as I recognize that is who I am. Will I live a sinless life? No way. But as I grow in this truth sin should no longer control me. I have the power within me to deal with sin in a way that will encourage spiritual growth in Christ. Recognizing that the new man lives and the old man is dead in God’s eyes is a powerful reminder of where my strength is derived.

    “But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.“
    ‭‭(Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭8‬-‭10‬, ‭NET‬‬)

    So the song by Toby Keith takes on a wonderful new spiritual meaning. I don’t want the “old man” to dominate me in my journey with Jesus. When I battle the fleshly responses that create shame and guilt I need to remember that the old man is dead. I have the ability to set aside those old man impulses. I have the new man living in me through the Holy Spirit and that gives me the freedom to respond differently. The new man lives in my heart and I need to focus daily on that truth. When I struggle with those impulses I can remember the powerful words of this song. Don’t let the old man in.


  • Ready for a Better Way?

    Ready for a Better Way?

    Even occasional readers of my humble ramblings know that the start of my faith narrative was mired in legalism. My first church believed you could not spell denomination without “no”. Starting from that faulty foundation led me to years of sadness, tiredness and performance bondage.

    I replayed my long and fragmented journey to grace and freedom as I listened to a song from Hillside United titled, “From the Inside Out”.

    One thousand times I’ve failed
    Still your mercy remains
    Should I stumble again
    I’m caught in your grace

    Everlasting your light will shine when all else fades

    I remembered day after day of agonizing self-loathing because I kept failing. I did not understand His mercy nor did I believe I could fall on His grace. I was taught that such an attitude showed a lack of obedience and a dependence on “cheap grace”. Somehow I missed the message of Jesus to the religious hypocrites as I was influenced by the preaching of shame.

    I was released from that doctrinal prison just a few years ago. Moralism is answering to the wrong source of authority. Legalists often default to religious traditions rather than the Word of God.

    Legalism takes the sweet Gospel of Jesus Christ and mixes in some “churchified” version of the law. Church by-laws occupy equal footing with God’s Word. Righteousness is no longer about Christ but about right behavior as only they can define it. Legalism cherry picks verses that support behavioral control while conveniently ignoring dozens of verses about grace, forgiveness, kindness, love, gentleness and forbearance.

    Focusing on right behavior can make you moral and perhaps a good person. It does not make you righteous. Such focus is not much different (if at all) from an agnostic or sporadic church-goer who really tries hard to do right and moral things. Tim Keller wrote this provocative thought about legalism in his wonderful book The Reason for God.

    “The devil, if anything, prefers Pharisees—men and women who try to save themselves. They are more unhappy than either mature Christians or irreligious people, and they do a lot more spiritual damage.”

    I spent many long and frustrating years trying to do all the right things to be righteous. I got tired. I became discouraged. I reached the point of brokenness that allowed me turn over the keys to Christ. I reached the point where I no longer had to be right. I had reached the point where I didn’t want to wear a phony mask of holiness. I had reached the point where I was willing to trust God completely with everything about me. I had reached the point where I was ready for grace. And that is the day that I began to experience what Hillside United sings about in today’s song.

    My heart and my soul
    I give you control
    Consume me from the inside out

    Let justice and praise become my embrace
    To love you from the inside out

    And the cry of my heart is to bring you praise from the inside out

    That is where real change happens. From the inside out. Moralism can restrain sin but only the Holy Spirit gives you the power to not sin. Moralism will always fail. Either you will fail to live up to your standards or you will fail by damaging those you love.

    If you are tired enough, discouraged enough, wounded enough and ready to give up then I have a very odd statement to make.

    You are in a wonderful place. You are ready for grace.

    Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. (Romans 6, NLT)

    You are ready for change from the inside out. God is waiting for you to experience His grace. Legalism is a dead end street to misery. There is a better way to live.

    In freedom.

    In Christ.

    (Waking Up Slowly offers a 21 day journey to connect more fully to God and one another.
    Check it out here.)