A man went for a hike one day, and as he was approaching the
summit of the hill he was climbing, he paused by the edge of a cliff to rest
and take in the view. As he was standing there enjoying his break, the dirt
under his feet gave way and he found himself helplessly sliding over the edge
of the cliff. As he began to fall his body slammed into a small tree that was
growing out of the face of the cliff. He instinctively reached out and managed
to grab hold of the tree. As he dangled
from the tree, he quickly realized that there was no way for him to climb up,
and no way down except to fall. Even though he had seen
no other people on his hike, he cried out in desperation hoping someone would
hear him. To his great surprise, he heard a voice respond to him. “Who is
there?”, cried the man. “It's God” came the response. “I want you to let go of
the tree and trust me.” After a moment
of silence, the man, in a much weaker voice called out, “Is there anyone else
up there?”
While the story may cause us to smile, the message of it
hits terribly close to home. While we very much like the idea of grace, we are
also very much afraid of it. Without question, one of the most powerful driving
forces of the human mind is the need to be in control. We fiercely cling to the
right to control our own lives even when we are making a terrible mess out of
it and things are spinning out of control. Hence the problem with grace.
Receiving grace requires that we acknowledge that we are helpless and that
there is nothing we can do to make ourselves good enough for God or earn his
pleasure. All we can do is do is throw ourselves at his feet, cry out for
mercy, and trust his love, his sacrifice on our behalf, and his promises. In
our passage for Sunday, Galatians 4:21-31, Paul says that when we try to remain
in control by adding our own efforts to God’s grace, we remain enslaved to sin
and the law and that we haven't experienced grace at all. Could this be you? Have you experienced the freedom and joy that
comes from surrendering everything (even the control of your life and destiny)
to Jesus, or are you afraid to let go and trust him? Think about it. Pray about it.
