If only I could have harnessed the energy I spent in worry, fear, and people-pleasing in my lifetime. My greatest rest is the peace of Christ.
Since many of the religious voices in my life have grown increasingly silent–including the loudest of all: my own–I’ve been given the rare opportunity of taking life and faith one day at a time. This experience seems to have confirmed what I knew all along: that we are works in progress. And yet, we’re not the point. I’m finding that Christ-centered peace implies that we’re resting in him, trusting in his sufficiency every moment. Our focus becomes the nature and character of our good Father, his Son Jesus, and the presence of the Spirit.
I have found it so easy to focus on outward things, which is why I found religion so enticing. Law gives us something to measure ourselves by. We might even have said, “I know I don’t measure up but I suspect that you don’t measure up more.” The introduction of grace is a brutal blow to the law-keeper. Law ceases to have any influence in the life covered by grace. We are motivated to revel in the beauty of the godhead, to love, and to live unselfconsciously enriched by all that Father would do through us.
Sin is certainly a problem. Sin entraps, ensnares, and muddies the crystal-clear waters of faith. And yet we see another power at work in us: the all-sufficient power of Father in Christ. And he is enough. Even though we can plainly see our needs, shortcomings, and failures we can see him more. Because his cleansing, loving power is greater than our sin. The loving righteousness of our Father in Christ makes us clean. Sin doesn’t stain Christ, Christ purifies the sinner. His grace is enough.
