Living in the Balance of Grace & Faith

At our Gospel Truth Seminars, I always take time before meetings to talk with friends and partners. One of the most common questions I'm asked is "What do I need to do to receive the blessings of God?" It is usually followed by this explanation: "I have been praying, reading my Bible, going to church, and paying my tithes, yet I don't seem to be able to get my prayers answered."

In that question and explanation lies the root of the problem: They have fallen into the trap of linking God's response to their performance. They have not properly understood the balance of grace and faith and their relationship to each other.

By definition, the word grace means unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor. Therefore, the good news is, grace has nothing to do with you. Grace existed before you ever came to be. Another way of saying it is, grace is God's part. Faith is defined as being a positive response to what God has already provided by grace. In other words, faith is your positive response to God's grace, or faith only appropriates what God has already provided for you. Therefore, faith is your part.

TRAPPED IN THE TIDE POOLS OF LIFE

by dianegates

The morning was bright, the tide low, and a gentle breeze stirred along the shoreline. Gulls strutted the water’s edge and my heart soared as patterns of foam danced up the sand while pelicans glided just above the sunlit waves.

I splashed through the pools of salt-water left along the beach from the receding tide. Some were slim and shallow. Others wide and deep. Various shapes and sizes. Each one cut off from the ocean, left to evaporate as the sun rose and the tide shrunk back to the sea.

A glance ahead revealed two shapes lying just inside the ridges of the next tidal pool—starfish—trapped from their retreat along the ocean’s floor. Their source of existence ebbed with each taunting ripple of the next swell. They would bake in the heat of the rising sun and drying sand.