Holding Hands by Aaron Gilson, on Flickr

Or, more accurately: Letting God do now what he did in the beginning.

Only now I get to partner with him with more intentionality.

And knowledge.

Let’s look at the classic verse on salvation by grace:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

This is a grammatically complicated verse, so let’s break it down.

It’s actually a simple contrast between two elements, grace and works. Everything in between (and after) is an explanation of those elements.

Let’s leave out everything but these two elements for a minute (we don’t want to forget them because, as we’ll see shortly, they have something powerful to say about how to live our lives out in the here and now).

This is what you have left:

For it is by grace you have been saved, not by works.

So, first of all, salvation is by grace. It is a gift. It’s not something you can earn and it’s not something you can achieve (see Romans 6:23 and Titus 3:5).

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, not by works.

Second, this grace is appropriated by faith, by taking God at his word and trusting him apart from what you may sense or otherwise think, apart from him (see John 1:12 and John 5:24).

Faith is the key that unlocks God’s grace in our lives.

So now we have to work up some faith, right? Keep giving ourselves pep talks. Keep thinking bigger and bigger, bolder and bolder.

Well…no.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works.

Faith is the key that unlocks grace, but it is God who hands you the key (and, not to put too fine a point on it, puts it in your hand, points to the lock, and then guides the key in your hand into the lock and turns it).

But why, you may ask, are these distinctions so important? Why is God so finicky about all this?

That’s in the last phrase:

…so that no one can boast.

Back at the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, the serpent tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit and claimed that God didn’t want her eating it because he didn’t want her to be like him.

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Genesis 3:5

The truth is that God created Eve and her husband in his own image and gave them incredible authority over the rest of creation:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26-27

But in order to have this authority they needed to be under authority.

So they were given freedom (“any tree of the garden”) and boundaries (except “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”).

And everything would have been incredibly cool, if they’d just believed God instead of the serpent. If they’d been grateful for all the trees they could eat from instead of obsessing on the one tree that was off limits.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Genesis 3:6

We have the same choices before us today as Adam and Eve did then.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

1 John 2:15-16

“The boastful pride of life.”

“…so that no one can boast.”

This is where so many people who do not yet know Christ struggle. It seems we have been hardwired to want unfettered freedom—and credit.

Those of us who do have a relationship with God through Christ struggle this way as well, often just as much as we did before we knew him at all.

Here’s the key: Go back to the beginning.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Colossians 2:6-7

Thankfulness. It’s the very opposite of boasting, isn’t it?

Let God show you the lock, hand you the key, and gently guide you as you unlock his grace and release its healing power into your circumstances. And be grateful.

Practice what he showed you when he first began his good work in you (Philippians 1:6).

 

Saw this plaque yesterday and had to copy it down:

—Home Rules—

Always be honest

Proverbs 12:22

Count your blessings

Psalm 34:1-3

Bear each other’s burdens

Galatians 6:2

Forgive and forget

Micah 7:18

Be kind and tender hearted

Ephesians 4:32

Comfort one another

1 Thessalonians 4:18

Keep your promises

Romans 4:21

Be supportive of one another

Acts 20:35

Be true to each other

Revelation 15:3

Look after each other

Deuteronomy 15:11

Treat each other like you treat your friends

Matthew 7:12

but most important

Love One Another
deeply from the heart

1 Peter 1:22

 

Dear friend,

If you are fighting depression today, don’t make it your wish to replace depression with a more palatable mood. Depression doesn’t have anything to do with what you’re feeling. It’s all about what you’re thinking.

Instead of trying to replace depression with happiness, determine to confront depression with truth.

Depression is a liar (so is anxiety). The only cure for a lie is truth.

So make it your mission to know what the truth is, no matter what lies your emotions are telling you. You cannot make yourself feel anything. You can only trust, or not trust, your feelings—trust, or not trust, truth.

So know truth. Think truth. Speak truth. Live truth. Agree with truth when you hear it.

“Test everything. Hold on to the good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” Philippians 4:8

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” Ephesians 4:15

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation.” Psalm 42:5

“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:19-23

Some helpful reading:

• WebMD:  15 Ways to Help Treat Depression Naturally
• WebMD:  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Depression

 

There’s something important I’ve learned about scripture memory that’s often overlooked. It’s really been driven home to me over the last two years especially:

It isn’t the quantity of scripture memory that rewires the brain. It’s the depth of thinking and feeling invested in the verses. It’s the application of the verses into the day-to-day and moment-to-moment of my life.

The first five verses I memorized as a new Christ-follower serve as the foundation of every verse I’ve learned since then. I have broken them down repeatedly into their component parts, searched the scriptures for insight and clarity into the meaning of their words and phrases. I have prayed them into my life and into the lives of my friends (and sometimes enemies). I have mentally hyperlinked them to additional verses I’ve learned and explored. I have held the teaching of preachers and artists up to their lights. I have judged my actions and attitudes by them.

And I have clung to them in the darkness.

I am in the midst of transitions more radical than any I’ve experienced in almost 40 years—with the most challenging of them just over the horizon. These five verses and the ones that followed them over the decades are the roots of change that are now bearing fruit.