Joy in the Grip of Grace

One of the greatest truths of the Gospel is that we are saved by God's grace not because of our works. This is a great truth because we know that our goodness just isn't good enough. The realization of salvation by grace alone through faith alone is also an important source of humility and gratitude. But what often happens after we initially accept God's grace as a gift and walk in humility and gratitude for awhile is that we forget. We forget the critical nature of relying on God's grace. It's a subtle and slow process but devastating to the human spirit. What happens is that we begin to believe the lie that our spiritual growth can be achieved in our own strength. Even worse, we begin to take pride in our spiritual achievements as if we earned them by some incredible effort of our own. This is Spiritual Pride. Paul rejects it in no uncertain terms. First from his own life and then from the life of his brothers and sisters.