Fashioned By Grace

Consider what God says about prayer. First, we are told, “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6, ESV). Then the Bible says, “No one understands; no one seeks for God” (Romans 3:11).

Scripture reveals that we will not seek the Lord as we should. Again and again, we are shown God’s standard of perfection and our inability to reach it. Why? It is so that we can avoid the fate of the Pharisees. They got up early in the morning and prayed long prayers. They constructed rules to keep an appearance of holy behavior, but Jesus points out that while they appeared clean on the outside, their hearts were dark and rotten. “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness” (Luke 11:39).

God is after a deeper work in us than we could ever accomplish on our own. Paul sums it up in one brief passage: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:1-3).

When our obedient works are not fashioned by the grace of God, we feel it. On the surface, we may feel proud of what we seem to achieve; but when we fail, we feel discouraged to the point of giving up, thinking, “This is too heavy a burden. I can’t take it anymore.”

Exactly! That’s the point: It is too heavy a burden. This is why Jesus tells us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Jesus is not just offering an invitation; he is commanding us to come to him because he alone supplies the rest that our souls need. Friend, God is fashioning the work in us! As soon as he reveals our inability, he shows his ability and willingness to accomplish it all in us.