You Call Yourself A “Christian” ~ Earning Nothing

Greetings Dear Reader,

My Grandfather used to tell this story:

A man was sitting on his porch on his block in the cool of the evening.  It was his habit to do this every evening.  Many of the older people in his neighborhood did the same. 

A young fellow dressed in a nice suit came down the block.  He turned up the mans walk and stepped up onto the porch, smiled at the sitting man, and handed him a one-hundred-dollar bill.  Without a word he turned and walked away.  The young man repeated this action every day for thirty days.  No matter what the older man said the young man did not speak or interact. 

On the thirty-first day the young man walked down the block and passed the older man’s house.  He went to the next house on the block where an older widow sat knitting and sipping sweet tea.  The young man proceeded up her walk, handed her a one-hundred-dollar bill, and went on his way.  The older man yelled after him, “Hey!  Why are you giving her my one hundred dollars?”

One of the challenges of doing the things we do to follow Christ is that we begin to think we are earning something from him.  We think that we deserve something from God or that he owes us something.  This is never to be our motivation.

We cannot earn God’s favor because we already have it.  We must not put ourselves in the place where we think God owes us favor or merit.  This is only an exercise in futility.  First, we already have God’s favor.  He loves us in ways we cannot imagine.  He never mitigates his love when we do wrong.  He never increases it because we do right.

I must follow Christ for the sake of loving him.  I cannot begin to think I have earned or am owed anything.  I must only and always move with Christ out of love for him.  Anything else is a compromise of what I am commanded to be.  If I do good to earn God’s favor I am exercising futility.  I am taking the name of Christ for my own purposes. 

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Meat and Bones – Favor

Greetings Dear Reader,

I remember how much I wished to earn the favor of adults when I was a child.  I had no idea how elusive that would prove to be in my family.  I also had no idea how taxing my creativity and lack of inhibition would prove for the adults charged with caring for me.

It seems that my younger self would do almost anything to earn positive regard from adults.  It also seems that earning favor seems to be futile cycle.  One gets the positive regard based on what one does but then the security of that moment wears away.

Earned favor does not last.  This is why earning favor from God is not an option.  This is why the Father gives us unmerited favor.  He loves us unconditionally.  He provides grace and mercy and Christ’s expense so that we have free access to him via our aforementioned faith. 

Throughout the centuries the church has tried to impose mechanisms to earn God’s favor.  Most of those have been in order to control what others do relative to faith.  Using the Father as a tool to manipulate others may be the highest form of taking God’s name in vain.  He never asked us to earn his favor.  He paid the highest price to prove that we already have it.

The meat of the matter is that the Father wants only the best for us.  He does not demand that we earn his favor.  He asks only that we follow his Son in faith in the light of the favor he has already granted.  If we walk in the light as he is in the light we have real fellowship.  It is in this that we find the acceptance we crave freely given and filled with love.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store.”

(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

On Giving Thanks – Grace

Greetings Dear Reader,

All too often I forget the power of certain words.  “Grace” is one of them.  I like the Merriam-Webster definition: “unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification.”  Let me explain.

"Grace" Eric Enstrom

Unmerited – a primary function of grace is that we do not deserve it.  God does not owe us anything. 

Divine – It is God that provides it solely of his good will

Assistance – It is something we need.

Given – once again it is a GIFT.  We cannot earn whatever it is that we are given by grace.

Humans – this is available to everyone.  There is no elitism or favoritism.  If you are human God has grace for you.

For Regeneration - We need to be made alive again.  Sin is what is killing us and by grace God wishes to give us new life in Christ.

For Sanctification – We also need to be “cleaned up”.  We are messed up, fallen, crooked sticks.  God uses his grace to draw us closer to him and make us more like him.

Paul wrote it this way – “It is by grace you redeemed through faith; not from your own good deeds, but as gift from God.”

I have said before that you can come as you are.  There is no need to clean up, shape up, or give up.  You do not need to do anything.  The gift is there if you will simply accept it.  Grace is one of the key reasons that we give gifts to each other.  We may not acknowledge it but it is true.

I am so thankful that God accepts me as I am.  It is in his grace that I find the power every day to follow Christ.  It is because of grace that I lived long enough to come to this place.  It is grace that will lead me on the journey until I find home. Come taste the grace.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."  ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)