Saturday, February 28, 2009

Losing the War on Grace

The war on grace is one that, despite what you might think, everyone is fighting.

Believers and non-believers alike have served on both sides. It seems odd to think of someone like Jerry Falwell fighting alongside a secular humanist like Bill Maher, but they are both in opposition to Grace. It may seem odder still to think that men like John Piper and Tim Keller are aided in their fight on behalf of grace by secular rock bands like Radiohead.

To explain this in a little more detail, I'll have to borrow some material (but since this is bit of Christian writing, plagiarism is, if not outright encouraged, at least overlooked).

Everyone lives their life within the model of salvation from hell. What that salvation is, the means by which it is acquired, and the hell from which it delivers may all vary-but that model is consistent for everyone.

If you're overweight, you want to be saved from fat hell, and you'll go to the gym, diet, and sacrifice sugar in order to be saved (reach your goal weight).

If you're a businessman, you'll want to be saved from unsuccessful hell, so you will put in long hours, serve your boss, and sacrifice time with others (family, friends, etc) so that you may be saved (get rich, powerful, your name on the door).

I could go on and on, but the point is that if you think about yours, or anyone else's life in this context, you can usually identify what hell you are trying to escape, and how you are trying to do it.

Any of these efforts to save ourselves, from whatever hell it may be, is worship of an idol. The idol being whatever form of salvation we seek. This idol worship is how we fight the war on grace.

If we are going to be truly saved, from hell in all it's forms, we are going to have to stop fighting, and start losing.


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