All of life is grace

I am learning that the entire Christian life is one of grace. Grace frees us from performance and frees us to bask in the unmerited favor of God given to those like me who deserve nothing but his just condemnation. In Christ I am a saint, but in myself I am a sinner. Two quotes from Jerry Bridges in his book The Discipline of Grace illustrate this so well.

On his seventieth birthday, pioneer missionary William Carey wrote to one of his sons these words:

I am this day seventy years old, a monument of Divine mercy and goodness, though on a review of my life I find much, very much, for which I ought to be humbled in the dust; my direct and positive sins are innumerable, my negligence in the Lord’s work has been great, I have not promoted his cause, nor sought his glory and honour as I ought, notwithstanding all this, I am spared till now, and am still retained in his Work, and I trust I am received into the divine favour through him."

Almost two hundred years after William Carey wrote, a seminary professor with honesty and candor humbly admitted,

"I write these words at the age of fifty-five. During the past ten or twelve years, I have often--and with greater seriousness than ever before--reflected upon the course of my life. Certain patterns of thoughts and attitude and conduct have come to light, some of them quite disturbing. I look back upon repeated failures in my efforts to subdue inner conflicts and fears, to combat immaturity and self-centeredness, to build genuine and enriching relationships with other people, to conquer besetting sins, and to grow in holiness and communion with God. I now see that ever period of my life has been marked by . .. .struggle. But the persistence of the failures, has made the struggles of recent years exceptionally intense and painful."

All of life is grace!