“For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Galatians 6:3)
Last week in this post I
made the point that regardless of how well I think I’m doing in the
sanctification project or how much progress I think I’ve made since I
first became a Christian, like Paul in Romans 7, when God’s perfect law becomes the standard and not
“how much I’ve improved over the years”, I realize that I’m a lot worse
than I fancy myself to be. Whatever I think my greatest vice is, God’s
law shows me that my situation is much graver: if I think it’s anger,
the law shows me that it’s actually murder; if I think it’s lust, the
law shows me that it’s actually adultery; if I think it’s impatience,
the law shows me that it’s actually idolatry (read Matthew 5:17-48).
We’ll always maintain a posture of suspicion regarding the radicality
and hilarity of unconditional grace as long as we think we’re basically
OK. Our presumption of “okayness” leads to a self-deception that robs
us of the joy of our salvation and the undomesticated freedom that
Christ paid so dearly to secure for sinners like me.
Martin Luther shows how probing the problem of presumption is and
reveals that our so-called progress may not be as impressive as we think
it is: Keep Reading...
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