Alan Fadling: Notes from my Unhurried Journey

The reflections below are actually from my very year of sending out “Notes from my Journey” back in 1996 by email and fax.

Galatians 2:19-21, “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

I was drawn to this passage by the phrase “set[ting] aside the grace of God.” It raised a question for me: What does it look like to set aside the grace of God?

I see God’s grace as His relational generosity with me in Christ. Grace-orientation focuses on what He has done for me in Christ. Law-orientation is a preoccupation with what I have been doing for Him. One is a path of life, the other a highway of death. I set aside the grace of God when I’m more focused on my rule-keeping (or rule-breaking) than on Christ’s perfect life given as a sacrifice.

I think perfectionism is the main way I actually do this in my day-to-day experience. I have often practiced a form of Christian perfectionism that is little more than a euphemism for rank legalism.

I cease to entrust myself to divine grace when I try to achieve God’s acceptance through the illusion of a perfect performance. It’s a childish “look-what-I-can-do” spirituality. It looks pretty silly.

I live by grace because I recognize that knowing the right rules haven’t changed my way of life. A grace-orientation is an acknowledgement that I am at God’s mercy. The good news is that God delights in showing mercy (Micah 7:18).

Am I willing to receive Christ’s life as a gift, or do I try to “earn favor” (a complete contradiction in terms). Do I come to God with hands empty to receive grace, or with hands full of stuff designed to somehow impress God? Do I really think I can improve on God’s grace?