• The Lord doesn’t want us to feel good only, he wants us to actually be good, and he knows the difference is a much richer, more peaceful life. In this way, the ethical imperatives of the Gospels are for our well being as much as they are for his own glory. Think of Luke 6:46:
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
• As the metaphor suggests, there is a fundamental instability in the person who hears Jesus but does not walk with him in integrity. He can be washed away by a doubt, a passion, or a stray thought. To some degree, all of us have periods like this. On the inside we’re troubled, as though we’ve forgotten something important but can’t remember what. Moments and activities that once gave us rest and peace are now filled with a low-level anxiety. “One rises at the sound of a bird” the author of Ecclesiastes says, describing the malaise of being easily and needlessly agitated.
• In such moments, reading or hearing of the grace of God offers temporary relief, but it can also create further despair if we have the courage to recognize there is a growth in grace that is not happening in us. We recognize it is a blessing to feel good, but we are weary of our sin and want to actually be good.
• So remember there is more to the grace of God than simply assuring us in our despair after we sin; the grace of God was also given that we might not sin in the first place: not that we might feel good only, but that we might actually be good. Both are addressed in Titus 2:11ff. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
• Here are both halves of the gift of God’s grace: training and power to renounce ungodliness, and redemption for sinners. Don’t be afraid to believe there can be rock under your feet and stability in your soul: the grace of God has appeared.