As believers, we acknowledge that God is the one true king, but we mustn’t misinterpret His sovereignty. He is indeed supreme, but it’s a mistake to use that as an excuse to be passive, lazy Christians. Some people say that God is in complete control, but He has actually given that control to us. This was His original plan when He made mankind in His image and gave them dominion over the earth and everything in it.
After Adam and Eve turned authority over to Satan in the garden of Eden, Jesus came and restored it to us because of His unmerited favor toward us. He gave us power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Fully believing this puts us in a position to use this authority. We must balance grace with faith, because going to either extreme gives us a false balance.
It’s erroneous to assume that everything that happens is God’s will, because this ignores the fact that He made us free moral agents. He has set before us life and death, blessing and cursing. He advises us to choose life, but our cooperation is needed for His will to come to pass.
God isn’t responsible for the evil things that happen. It’s not in His nature to send us poverty, sickness, or death. There’s a devil loose in this world, bent on stealing, killing, and destroying, but God’s will is for us to have life, and have it abundantly. His thoughts toward us are for peace, not evil, and agreeing in faith with those plans empowers us.
Faith is our positive response to what grace has made available; our faith gives us access to this grace. Faith is the power that works in us. Using it allows God to show us grace in exceeding, abundant measure. Properly balancing the two gives us amazing results.
Prayer:
Lord, You give us the double blessing of being our sovereign king who protects us and watches over us, while ceding to us the same power and authority that Your Son has. Your Word teaches us how to balance faith with grace so that we won’t end up in error. Thank You for Your generosity in this area. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Scriptures:
- Genesis 1:26
- Luke 10:19
- Proverbs 11:1
- Deuteronomy 30:19
- John 10:10
- Jeremiah 29:11
- Romans 5:2
- Ephesians 3:20