Grace creates debt?
I realize that it has been a while since my last post and for that I am truly sorry. Work and the holidays have snuck up on me and blogging has fallen to the wayside. Regardless, the jouney continues. Following is a nugget that I received from gracedagain.com.
"The effort to repay God in the ordinary way we pay creditors would nullify grace and turn it into a business transaction. If we see acts of obedience as installment payments, we make grace into a mortgage. Let us not say that grace creates debt; let us say that grace pays debts."
John Piper, Future Grace
"The effort to repay God in the ordinary way we pay creditors would nullify grace and turn it into a business transaction. If we see acts of obedience as installment payments, we make grace into a mortgage. Let us not say that grace creates debt; let us say that grace pays debts."
John Piper, Future Grace
posted by Scott at 8:45 AM
7 Comments:
My wife and I were talking about this just yesterday.
I've never understood how we're redeemed by grace, and then for the rest of our lives, we're judged by our works.
We just cannot earn it... ever
I agree Jeff, I'm not sure how that happens. Several years ago, I started to list the hierarchy of rules put out by the church with my wife just for fun...What rules would you put on the "Good Christian Behavior" list?
It's a whole lot of "don't" (cuss, drink, have sex, be gay...etc) and do's (attend church, pray, read bible, tithe)
Sounds difficult...
Good works = good life; bad works = bad life - that's kinda obvious for us on earth to comprehend. However, in light of eternity - Grace seems to be there for either of the workers (if they choose to recognize it). As for the final judgment before God, let each person answer to God - although they may have not been listening (or maybe they have) and with this I am comfortable.
Obvious but not accurate SVS. What happened to Universal Reconciliation? Will God judge all? What happens to those (all of us) found wanting in view of God's judgment?
Obvious but not accurate SVS. What happened to Universal Reconciliation? Will God judge all? What happens to those (all of us) found wanting in view of God's judgment?
"What happened to Universal Reconciliation? Will God judge all? What happens to those (all of us) found wanting in view of God's judgment? " (Scott)
1. Universal Reconciliation is alive and well and still taked a lot about in blogs - love the grace focus.
2. If God is a judge, then he will judge all. If he is not a judge, then he will be judged by us.
3. We are all going to be found as people that mess up - we know this, we know ourselves. But are we keeping our end of the faith, of life - loving our neighbor as ourself, doing unto others as unto ourself, etc...funny how 'ourself' is in those sayings like we have some vested interest here. I think the key is in relationships we build with others (how do we do).
Does God like mass-murderers? Does God like a rapist? Does God approve of the pedophile? Well, do we is the real question? If we committ such attrocities then we can truly know, if not we cannot truly know (about this level of forgiveness). You see the fault lies in ourselves - not in other people - so can we forgive ourselves after these crimes and become decent beings amongst society afterwards? What happens in the end is of no recourse to me - I just wanna know if my kids can trust a pedophile that has been released (and forgiven)? Can my wife trust a rapist? Can I trust a mass murderer with my very life? Then and only can I say I know the power of forgiving that person - by trust.
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