Vehicles of Grace


2Ti 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Hbr 12:8, 11 NASB But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ... All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

 Spiritual Disciplines; those measurable habits that involve us in the attempt to obey His commands.

" Abide in my Word..."
" Pray without ceasing..."
" Do not forsake the assembling together, as is the habit of some..."
"...make disciples..."

Powered by trust in the work of Jesus on the cross, and the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit, these vehicles of grace become imperfect conveyers of perfectly powerful promises.

But what happens when we trust the discipline, not the Savior.

Being disciplined in the spiritual disciplines can become like a man who so enjoys the first building he built for his business, that he wants to build more. The first is built for it's product or outcome. But he just enjoys owning buildings. Soon he also enjoys pointing out, "That one is mine as well...".

He wants to own more buildings, because he is proud of owning a few.
He is trusting the joy of ownership, as a cheap substitute for the product of those buildings.

It is not longer about the work being done there, just the structure itself.

 In the life of Jesus, we see many commands to trust Him given to the disciples. We never see Him say,"Just trust the process..."

His life is our example.

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