The Doctor’s Casebook:

Easy Grace? - you must be kidding!

Thanks to Paul Anderson-Walsh we have had some wonderful teaching about the grace of God and Christ working within us. It is a joy to know that we have eternal security and that sin has no power over us, but has it made a positive impact on our day-to-day life experience? The problem with grace theology, along with other practical theologies, is that a system of belief does not necessarily guarantee satisfactory outcomes, at least not this side of eternity.

I remember my years as a Word of Faith Christian, I firmly believed ‘by his stripes I am healed’, therefore I was already healed. Now nothing wrong with that at face value, except that if I was already healed I was not allowed to speak or act sick any more! Because of the doctrine of ‘confess it and possess it’ and ‘we can have whatever we say’, I became too ashamed to ever admit I was ill. The same reasoning applied to finances – my tithe made me right with God, so now he would provide all my needs and open up the windows of heaven, I will never lack – but I did lack, and in that lack I felt that I had somehow fallen short!

The same is true of doctrines of holiness. Anxious not to present any indication that one is not on the way to perfection, life becomes a sham of self-righteousness and feigned spirituality. It is, of course all religious hypocrisy and works of the ‘flesh’, the very thing Jesus condemned again and again during his time on earth. But in every field of Christian living, we try to do what we are told the Bible teaches, and set ourselves unrealistic and usually inconsistent outcomes.

Whether you are able to receive and reveal God’s favour through health or material possessions or simply by being Mr or Mrs Righteous, the result is guilt, or possibly disillusionment, or even worse, denial – but never in revealing a Christ-centred life.

There is a book on the topic of ‘works for prosperity’ called, ‘It’s not Working Brother John’. I have not read this book, but I understand it is for those who are attempting to achieve prosperity using formulaic biblical principles, without achieving any success! Now, I am not about to criticize a book I haven’t read – I just think the title fits in perfectly with what I am saying.

Maybe I should get to the point. Having learned my grace theology, I know I am forgiven of all sins, past, present and future. Christ shines out of my eyes, the love of God permeates my being and I have perfect compassion, self-control and time for everyone. I have become selfless and no longer seek worldly things because I live on a higher plane. Is this a good description of you? – It certainly doesn’t describe me! Nearer to the truth: although we are delighted to have been set free from the guilt of sin and inadequate spiritual performance, the conflict: if not with guilt, with sin itself, and the desire to do better persists. Yet today, I find myself still wrestling with the apparent contradiction of belief over experience. The mercy however, is that this dilemma need not be compounded by the imposition of guilt. I want to reconcile this paradox, because if the ‘grace message’ is true, which it is, then it must make a difference in our daily lives!

When folk want to criticize ‘grace people’ they decry our beliefs as ‘easy grace’, but in reality grace is anything but easy – let me assure you that anything that doesn’t involve self-effort is not only difficult it is ‘impossible’ as our title informs, ‘Easy Grace? – You Must Be Kidding!’

We are caught in something of a ‘Catch 22’. If we try to live the ‘Exchanged Life’ we lose, [Christianity is not living for God] because the life comes from ‘Christ within’, and if we don’t try – as the white rabbit said to Alice: ‘Don’t just do something, stand there’ – we lose again! I thought grace was win-win so am I now awarding it a lose- lose: more on this later. Oh for the good old days of legalism and condemnation, at least we knew where we stood under the law! Grace ain’t as easy as they reckon, heh?

So how do we live the ‘effulgent Christ-centred grace walk’ on a daily basis? I can’t teach you that – hang on? I know what you are thinking: ‘this guys got me sucked into this grace thing and now, when I want to get practical, he’s copping out!’ Well, yes and no. I can give you an idea where the ‘grace walk’ begins, but that’s as far as it goes. Now read on, it (almost) starts here:

Intrigued? I hope so. Where do I start, well, I have an idea for a starting point. No, it’s not by attending some class or reading yet another book; nor is it about coming to the prayer meeting, although what a great idea? You could help with a huge donation to the college, ‘Grace Central’ – that would be great… it would help us no end, but sadly it won’t get you started on the grace walk!

OK, I‘ll cut to the chase and give you something to do – I’m sure that’s what you want – it will appeal to your ‘do to get’ religious instincts. God will see that you are trying and help you along. God loves it when we have a go; doesn’t he? Seriously, this is dead easy, but please don’t try it at home, or anywhere else – it is about something from the heart. Let me explain: it’s all about being in love – about falling in love and remaining in love – with God! Let’s remember we love because he loves us first and more than that his love for us is unconditional, unending and for most of us unexplored. This is the great secret to making grace work in our lives.

Easy? Well it’s not about easy, because as we have seen, if you try to do it then it will be very hard and self defeating. And if you ignore it, it will vaporise – not the love of God, but your love affair with Jesus. Another paradox! Imagine if, when I first met my wife I said to myself, ‘this is the one; I must try to love her with all my heart’, it would be a dreadful way to have started our lives together. Love is not for trying, it’s for being in! One of the great teachings of grace is about the unconditional love of God. We owe everything to that never ending love. Our response to his love is not to look holy and walk old ladies across the road; but to fall in love too!

Do you know there is a key to getting your love juices flowing with God? In marriage counselling, which thankfully, I don’t do any more, the usual problem is that one, or both have stopped communicating properly. An old British Telecom advert carried the phrase ‘it’s good to talk’. Being in love is great, but almost everyone who files for divorce was once in love. Love needs nurturing. I have heard women say, ‘he never tells me he loves me anymore’. I was once involved in a counselling situation where the husband responded to that question: ‘I told you I loved you when we got married, and if I should change my mind, you will be the first to know!’ Funny, but sadly profound and ironically, true of so many marriages. I wonder if it is the same about our love for Jesus?

I am going to pursue this a little more. The message to the church at Ephesus in the Book of Revelation was to renew their first love. It seems that this is what Jesus wants from us. So if your legalistic tendencies demand that you live by the law, then at least live by the higher law of love and own the spirit of the first commandment: ‘You shall have no other God’s before me’. In other words: I (God) want to be the object of your affections. Isn’t that what those lonely wives say (of course I am not implying that the Lord is lonely)? When Jesus summed up the Law, he paraphrased: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength’. Yes, and the second part of this great commandment is the ‘outcome’ of the ‘Grace walk’: ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’ – God knew what he was doing when he put it second! In the world of science they call this the law of cause and effect.

So here we are, the Doctor will now prescribe some spiritual Viagra to get your love life going: Read the Bible from your heart. The Psalms for example are so passionate, and don’t forget to focus the mind upon Jesus all the while. If you’re game for a spot spiritual erotica, then turn to The Song of Solomon and light the scented candles. Begin to spend time in praise worship and adoration focusing on the ever present Spirit of Christ. Pray and seek the Christ both within and without as often as you can. Not hours at a time to begin with, but a little and often. As you develop this rhythm, you will get to know the Lord intimately and before too long you will be saying ‘Jesus, I love you’, and really mean it!

We will find ourselves in the place where we involve God in every area of our lives, to pray without ceasing to ‘keep our minds stayed upon him’ continually: now that’s what I call love! I might add, that it never hurts to ask God to make himself more real to us, to reveal his presence and come ever closer. I hear someone saying – ‘But he is already here’, and I have to answer, ‘I am already healed’…

I just love the tangible presence of God. It’s a wonderful feeling we get when we flow deep into the Lord. I believe our lives, our churches; our ministries should be flowing with the reality of it. I am obsessed, blissfully and unashamedly obsessed with his presence because he is the one I love and I want to be consciously with him. I am so serious about this that I am going to begin a monthly series, and spend a whole year on subject – and it will appear on this website. Remember you heard it here first!

It is time to conclude. When I first began seeing my wife Maxine, I counted the minutes until we would be together again. When we were separated for a few days, it was painful – but thankfully marriage is the logical progression from courtship. Now we have been happily married for over six years – we are together all the time and every day, without fail, I give her hugs and kisses and tell her how much I love her. It’s not something I make a decision about – I don’t say ‘I must tell Maxine I love her today’. It just comes out of my heart. It’s a bit like that with Jesus.

I pray that you may know the love of God and enjoy his presence continually.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

Dr. Peter

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