New Morning Mercies #308

How do you measure your capability—by your previous successes and failures or by the boundless resource of grace that’s yours in Christ?

It is something every human being does many times a day; most of the time, we do it unconsciously. The way we do it says a lot about who we think we are and what we think we are facing. The young child learning to walk does it, and so does the elderly woman facing serious sickness. What you conclude after doing it determines how you respond to the struggles in your life. What am I talking about? Measuring your capability. We are always assessing what we bring to the table to deal with what is currently on our plates.

Now, it is not stupid or irrational to measure your potential by examining your track record. How have you done so far? What are the things that tend to trip you up? What are the weaknesses that have been exposed? What have you learned that will help you do better the next time? These are all good questions as far as they go, but they lack something that is dramatically important. They lack the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, the message of the infusion of God’s grace is that you haven’t been left to your track record. You aren’t restricted to your limited collection of personal spiritual resources. Rather, in Christ, you have been given both a new identity and new potential. How could this new potential be more radically and powerfully stated than in the apostle Paul’s words: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20)?

God knew exactly what you would face as you journeyed through this fallen world. He knew that temptation would greet you every day. He knew the sin still within you would rear its ugly head. He knew that sorrow and suffering would get you down. He knew all the things that you would have to deal with at the address where he ordained you to live. So he gave you exactly what you need so that you can be what you’re supposed to be and do what he has called you to do even in the broken surroundings where you live. What did he give you? He gave you himself! His grace isn’t a set of insights. It isn’t a change of location. It isn’t the altering of situations. His grace is more fundamental and glorious than that. His grace goes far beyond anything we would dare to ask or reach out for with our imaginations. Here is the best way to say it: he is the grace that he gives. God’s best gift of grace is himself. He comes to us. He makes us the place where he lives. This means that divine power resides inside us. Our potential as God’s children is much more than our natural gifts and track records predict, because Immanuel, the Lamb, the Savior, the Lord almighty, the sovereign King has made us his residence. A new identity and a wildly new potential are ours in Christ. Now go out and live as if you really believe it.

For further study and encouragement: Galatians 2:15–21