“We are objects of love before we are subjects who love.”- Jono Linebaugh
In Chapter 9 of One Way Love, author Tullian Tchividjian states that the only way any of us truly begins to live a life of obedience to God is when we experience tasting His grace. The message that justifies also is the message that sanctifies- and that message can lead others to repentance the same way it has led us.
As Charles Spurgeon once wrote, Christ’s keeping of the Law makes us want to obey Him more, not less:
“When I thought that God was hard, I found it easy to sin. But when I found God so kind, so good, so overflowing with compassion, I smote upon my breast to think that I could have rebelled against One who loved me so and sought my good.”
Pastor Tchividjian adds that rebellion and conformity are two sides of the same legalistic coin. Some people avoid the Gospel and try to save themselves by keeping the rules- or they avoid the Gospel by breaking the rules and developing their own set of autonomous standards. In other words, when people reject God’s law they simply replace it with one of their own invention.
Because God first loved us, we happily extend that one-way love to others.
Today’s question: How have you been able to minister God’s grace to others during your desert, transformational journey? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “A bundle of paradoxes”
