I was a sophomore in high school who loved competing in basketball for our team. I had a key to our gym and played almost every day, even during the summer. However, everyone on the team was also required by the coach to play a second sport; so, I chose to run track.
I was 6’4″ and as skinny as a bean pole but for some reason I was fast, that is fast enough to be on the one mile relay team. That meant that all four of us had to run around the track one time and then pass the baton to the next person. I ran the third perlegon a team of very fast seniors.
One day, we were competing against a rival team and I became nervous when I discovered I was running against the fastest guy in our region. He was a muscular football player and I wondered how this was going to turn out. In the race, I received the baton about 30 feet ahead of him. My plan was to run at 5/6’s speed until I reached the final turn, then go as fast as I could. About half way, I heard his steps and he was gaining on me. Now I had to change my tactics. I needed to match his speed to keep our distance. When he ran faster, I ran faster. When he turned on his final sprint, I turned on my final sprint… and, it worked. He never did catch me no, matter how fast he ran. I passed the baton to our last runner and we won the race. It was a great day.
Romans 5:20 gives us the picture of a similar race in our own lives. It is the race of sin versus God’s grace.
All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. (The Message)
The sins of someone who has not received Christ is never greater than the ability of God’s grace to save that person. In the same way, the sins of someone who is in Christ are never greater than God’s grace to keep that person 100% acceptable to God.
Some worry that if we tell Christians this amazing truth of the New Covenant, they will see grace as a license to sin. However, our identity in Christ tells us that God’s law has been written on our hearts according to Hebrews 10:16-17. This means that God’s character is the very core of who we are now. Though we can sin, our deepest desire is to live a life consistent with who we are in Christ and who He is in us. When people have a growing understanding from the Holy Spirit of who they are in Christ, they don’t live for sin but rather they live for Jesus – relying on Him to live through them.
I remember one man telling me a few years ago that the more he understood grace, the more he was able to live more faithful to his wife as he overcame pornography. Another man was delighted to understand that he could now live in the freedom of holiness instead of his bondage to cocaine because of God’s strong grace. God’s grace is always stronger and faster than sin!
How about you, do you believe you can’t “out-sin” God’s grace or do you live in fear that you might? Let’s believe the New Covenant this week according to Romans 5:20 and grow spiritually so we can live free and holy in Christ.
For the Freedom of Others,
Mark Maulding
President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
