Growth and Admitting Flaws

Often in the Christian life our spiritual growth is hindered because we won't admit flaws. We cannot grow in areas if we refuse to admit we need to grow in areas.

The message of the bible is that man is under the curse of sin. The biblical ethic is so high that an honest understanding of its requirements tells us that we constantly fail.

God has grace on us and counts feeble attempts as a keeping of the law through the purifying blood of Jesus. Grace covers all our transgressions. We should not seek to sin because we have grace. If we are truly saved by grace the grace of God that saves us will naturally make us desire to do good works.

Grace which saves comes from our union with Jesus through faith in his death. The same union with Jesus that comes through faith also begins to change us degree by degree to be like Jesus.

It is faith in the cross which saves us and it is also faith in the cross which is the power which pushes us to grow in grace. Often it is easy to think that salvation and sanctification are caused by two different causes. We are saved and now need to figure out how to live.

Of course there is a need to figure out what Christian life entails, but the element behind both is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The link between justification and sanctification is that both events are tied together and driven by the same element faith in the work of Jesus.

Post: Our Way

Remembrance Good and Bad

Remembrance or willingness to not remember is a key ethical part of life. There are things which we should always remember and things which we should not remember in at least the sense of acting upon these memories.

We should always remember what God has done for us. It is good to remember what God has spoken through his word and also it is good to remember how God has acted in history.

It is also good to remember the kindness of others. At times it is good to remember our sufferings so we can understand those that suffer.

Certain remembrances are more worrisome. Remembering the transgressions of others against us is in particular worrisome.

We should not remember these things, because as God reminds us he has forgiven our great debt so we should forgive our small debtors.

All our debtors are small in comparison to our debt to God. It may not seem so, but we should see these things by faith.

Of course not remembering transgressions against us implies that we have forgiven, but not forgotten. Forgetting is often dangerous, since unrepentant people often repeat their actions.

There is often a need for both a remembrance and a forgetfulness with certain transgressors. We need to remember that they may not be trust able, but also forget the trespass in a moral sense.