Grace

Free will or predestination? If you think very long about this topic, your brain begins to wrap around itself, grab your throat with both hemispheres and strangle you. Every few months, I ponder this imponderable. I do that all on my own, but had a little help tumbling into this intellectual morass yesterday. In our little Bible study class, we all agreed that God extends grace- giving us what we don't deserve, the gift of eternal salvation when we place our faith in Jesus. And grace is sufficient. In fact, our teacher made the point that grace plus anything does NOT equal the gospel of salvation. No good work can earn us salvation- only grace alone; it is the gift of God "lest any man should boast." We do nothing to earn it, and can do nothing to gain it. We only need have the faith to accept it. But, then the teacher proposed, is faith a "work'? Is it something we DO, and therefore is it grace plus works...thereby nullifying grace?

This led to a spirited discussion which I won't attempt to recreate here. I believe in free will AND in God's grace that provides an irresistible pull towards Him. I believe faith is both a gift of the Holy Spirit AND an act of the will submitting to God. I suspect, bound by time and space, unlike God, we only have a murky understanding of either concept.

We came home from church, and the dogs went nuts, like they always do. Whether we give them any attention at all or not, they whine with delight, wag like maniacs, lick our hands and our feet, and tell us there is no greater joy than being in our presence again. Even if we kicked them away, (which we don't), they would return, longing only for us to acknowledge them. I decided that is a picture of grace.

Romans 11:5-6 (NIV)
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. [6] And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.


-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org