THERE’S WORK IN GRACE

Therefore, my beloved,... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. – Php 2:12

The Gospel message proclaims that Jesus has paid it all and done it all.

In Rom 11:6, Paul paints a stark contrast between GRACE and WORK: “If by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”

However, some believers take this truth to the extreme by saying that GRACE therefore, is so Anti-Works, that we must avoid anything that looks or smells like "work". For them, Christian exercises like prayer, fasting, giving, even church attendance are considered “WORKS”.

Like the Hippies of the 60’s, they’re quick to tell you, “Relax Bro, don’t get yourself worked up; it doesn’t take all that to receive”.

Nevertheless, though Grace is a Super-Mega MALL completely paid for by Jesus for the Believer to shop freely in, he or she still has to SHOP to get what has already been paid for.

They still have to DRIVE to the Mall, they still have to WALK into the Mall, they have to GET a shopping cart for themselves and they still have to move around the MALL and pull the things they want out of the shelves. Why would any person see this as work?

Spiritual exercises like fasting, prayer and meditating on God’s Word are means with which we shop in the Super MALL called Grace. Everything has been prepared and paid for, but we still have to work it out in faith. Prosperity isn’t going to fall on your laps, the miracle isn’t going to come unasked, and that breakthrough you’ve been looking for isn’t at the MALL gate; it’s on Aisle 1165 – by the Dairy Section, in between “Kosher Foods” and “Fresh Imports”. If you really need it, you have to do whatever it takes to get ‘there’.

And why wouldn’t you? It’s FREE. Go get it. Pray, Fast, develop your faith: whatever you need to do, Work it. And that miracle will surely be yours in Jesus’ Name.

AMEN.

Greg Elkan