Jonathots Daily Blog
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He was Saul of Tarsus, who after a dramatic Damascan conversion, began to travel the ancient empire under the stage name, Paul the Apostle.
He once said, “By grace you are saved through faith.”
Little did he know that this quote would become one of his greatest hits. Matter of fact, the doctrine of grace, which emerged from this statement, is preached every Sunday.
The validity of the statement is powerful. The salvation of our souls is a free gift from God through the love, mercy and sacrifice of Jesus. It blooms the potential of eternal life. But it doesn’t tell us what we’re supposed to do with our emotions, brains and bodies through this process called human life.
Because those who live on grace, hoping it will cover a multitude of their annoying practices, do very little to promote the expanse of the Christian message.
This came to me yesterday when I arrived at the Effort United Methodist Church near the Poconos in Pennsylvania.
Effort.
What a great word.
It is ridiculous to think that Jesus took the time to preach the Sermon on the Mount about character, bearing fruit, loving your neighbor, avoiding hypocrisy, channeling your lust and respecting the planet if he wanted us to merely lounge on the cushion of grace.
Belief in Jesus does give you salvation, but to live on Planet Earth, we require sanity. Sanity is achieved by accepting the Gospel of Jesus to free us from fret, worry, pride, prejudice, anger and fear. It simplifies our emotions so that our minds can be renewed and we can gain strength.
Religion does not grant us this peace.
Religion wants to give comfort to the convert and condemnation to the world.
It’s when we take grace and blend it with effort that we meld the alloy of faith–certainly trust in God, but also reliance on “Christ in me, the hope of glory.”
In the long run, there are two salvations–there is the salvation that is a free gift of God through acceptance of Jesus.
And there is a salvation which each one of us, individually, “works out with fear and trembling” as we journey, simplifying our lives with joy and understanding.
I had a monumental time yesterday with the folks in Effort.
They did put up an effort.
They showed up on July 4th weekend, when they could have gotten by with “pew hookey.”
They listened to this stranger expose new ideas about abundant life.
And they allowed themselves to be impacted rather than insisting that grace eliminates any need to learn.
The good news is that we are saved by grace through faith.
But the better news is that we save our sanity by taking the beautiful Gospel of Jesus and putting some Effort into it.
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