Hopeforthehopeless’s Weblog

I love my life. I have a wonderful wife, nice place to live where the rent isn’t too high, a great job, and a lovable dog. However, my wonderful wife likes for the lovable dog to be clean and smell good. So what she wants, she gets. However, like most dogs, our dog, reese, will pretty much endure a bath, and sometimes even enjoy it and take her nice smelling, perfectly clean self outside to roll around in the dirt.

This morning, we lived that event over again, and it hit me as I was chasing her down to put her collar back on. I caught her, she fell down, rolled over and looked into my eyes, as if to say, “Hey dad! Come play in the dirt with me!” It was in that moment, that I was thankful for grace.

I picked her up and dusted the dirt off. After I brought her back inside, I thought about my heavenly father who didn’t wash me clean on the outside, but rather cleansed me inside so that the effects of sin couldn’t seep too deep.

In Romans, Paul tells us not to take Grace as a license to sin. In other words, don’t be reese. Grace isn’t God picking us up and running water over us, massaging in soap to make us clean just to go out and roll around in the dirt again and restart the cycle. Grace is something unseen, cleansing something unseen, that will make itself visible in action. Action itself is not what is to be changed, but rather our ENTIRE SPIRIT.

Clint