Reconciling GraceSample

Frustrating Grace

The word that pops out to me in this verse is “frustrate.” In Greek, this word means to reject and neutralize. Based on this definition, I believe grace points to the divine influence upon one’s heart. In this verse, Paul is telling us to rely on God’s grace and not the law, which cannot declare us in right standing with the eternal God.

We also see here that God’s influence, favor, and power can indeed be rejected and neutralized when we begin to rely on ourselves. These words appear after Paul rebukes Peter for refusing to eat with Gentiles. In other words, Peter, through his hypocritical actions, was circumventing the divine flow in his own life and in the lives of those he was called to impact. I must admit that I, too, have been guilty of frustrating the grace of God, of neutralizing it because of my reliance upon myself.

Sometimes we fail to realize that God wants to employ his divine influence upon our hearts in order to deliver us from whatever is contaminating our thoughts, attitudes, perspective, and actions.

When God highlights our sin, it is not for the purpose of condemning us but rather because he wants to deliver us. As we come into the light of his word, God’s grace begins to flow.

I am in prison for a crime I did not commit, but I believe my imprisonment has served a purpose. It has given me time to face the ugliness of who I had become. When God revealed my heart to me, I was in denial because I couldn’t believe all the garbage that was inside me. But as I accepted what I couldn’t see within me, God’s grace began to flow in such a way that deliverance was possible.

The person I was is not the person I am today, by the grace of God. I learned through humility to “receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21, KJV). That grace has not ceased but continues, an ever-flowing gift from God.

Prayer

God, like a master physician, you diagnose the source of our ailments in order to uproot them. At the same time, you call us to yield to your revelatory word that sheds light upon our darkness. In doing so, we invite you, the God of all grace, to flow into our hearts, unhindered, producing tangible and palpable change. We thank you, eternal Father, that you do not give up on us but rather continuously pursue us, covering us with your manifold grace that is indeed able to recover souls. AMEN.

Author

Ignacio Alvarez is skilled in the art of carpentry and biblical interpretation. He was born and raised in Little Village in Chicago and believes in the fivefold ministries for the purpose of equipping the saints as outlined in Ephesians 4:11.