2 of 2

Grace teaches us to trust that God can handle our sin, and only God. Our thoughts begin to run like this: I can't handle my sin. I can't save myself. I can't change myself. Thank you, God, for already making me godly, so you could stand with me, ready to address my sin out there in front of us. Lord, thank you there is no pile of sin and junk between us. If there were, I wouldn't stand a chance of intimacy with you. I know I can't survive away from you. Once, I thought that this particular sin would fulfill and satisfy me. But, Father, as we look at it together, I am learning to trust your assessment of what will satisfy me. So, what do you want us to do about this sin? I am not going to try to manage it or throw it to the ground. I trust you for the next step.

This heart-set changes our entire approach to sin. It helps us take ourselves less seriously, while taking our sin far more seriously. Now when we mess up, we can say, "Lord, this sin doesn't surprise me a bit. I hate that I am prone to sin. I am practiced. I expect that kind of thinking to trip me up at times. As a matter of fact, I can't even handle that sin, and on my own I can't even stop that sin. That's how powerful I believe sin is. I need you now"

Do you really think God would make it so hard to live a life that pleases him? What if we didn't have to work so hard? What if our sin doesn't affect how close we are to God? What if God meant it when he said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you"?' What if God, knowing that we don't have the power to address our sin, could walk around that impossible mass and right up to us? What if he could put his arm around us and enjoy us right now-no matter how much unresolved sin we have in our life? What if we could both stand together, looking at "my" sin, not for the sake of condemnation, but to solve it together? What if we truly believed we were without condemnation? What if grace was that strong?

Welcome to life in The Room of Grace! Amazingly, the more we depend upon Jesus and his full ability to heal the effects of our sin, the less we sin! Now, that, friend, is like eating the grande Mexican sampler and losing weight at the same time!

Excerpted from TrueFaced, copyright 2003 by Bill Thrall and Bruce McNicol. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. For copies of the book visit www.navpress.com.

Also posted today is a review of the book.

True Faced is available from Amazon.com and other book retailers.

More information is available from the publisher.

Other leadership books are available from the Leadership Catalyst web site.

first page |  2 of 2

share this page

March (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48