Photography by A. Monaco
I had an "ah-ha" moment last night about divine grace and human responsibility when reading Tim Keller's book, Ministries of Mercy, The Call of the Jericho Road. One mind-boggling teaching of the church for me is how we are saved by God's grace but yet called to work out our salvation. In this book, Keller is not so much addressing this difficult concept but rather the Christian's responsibility of extending justice and mercy. However, as a good theologian, before he addresses what we are to do, he reminds us of what God has done.
Here's a paraphrased version of the passage from Keller's book that provided that "ah-ha" moment for me:
When God's grace first comes to us, it comes unconditionally, regardless of whether we deserved his mercy toward us. His mercy is 'unconditional' in that God calls us with the gospel before we show any interest or desire of him (Romans 3:9-18), while we still have no regard, respect for him or care about him. But though God's mercy comes without conditions, it does not proceed without conditions! God demands our cooperation in how we grow after we have been touched by his grace. Why? Because he loves us and we can only be happy if we are holy. God cannot leave us in the condition he found us. He therefore demands our co-operation with his mercy. We must give ourselves to studying the Bible, to spending time in prayer with God, to the practice of the truths that is taught in the Bible. If we do not, we will not grow.
