by J. Randal Matheny

"But He gives a greater grace. There it says, 'God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'" Jas. 4:6, NASU

Grace is a slippery slope for some, a blanket to cover the shoddiness, laziness, rebellion, and stubbornness of the recalcitrant heart. But I don't want to go there today.

How to conquer the desire to be friends with the world, at the same time we try to hang on to God? How to douse the lust and envy we've allowed to lodge in our spirit which God made to dwell in us?

Any time we look in our hearts, we despair. The more we delve, the more we see how entrenched sin is in us. Those who would counsel listening to our heart, searching for truth within us, or discovering the divine in our own soul are so deluded, they have yet to really take the first look.

Jeremiah looked, and this is what he saw: "I know, O Lord, that a man's way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23).

After a hard lick, David woke up: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me." He wasn't talking about his mother, but how deeply sin had rooted itself in his life.

Terrified at God's glory, Isaiah wailed: "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips;..." (Isa. 6:5).

Randal, who was reared in a Christian home, pulled back the religious talk and syrupy smiles, and gasped: "How can this be? Where did this sneak in? How did my life get this way?"

It's a sorry sight, my heart, and yours. Enough to make us want to throw in the towel.

So right after James calls us adulteresses, and right after he slaps us with, "You think the Bible is flapping in the wind?", he moves in quickly with, "But He gives a greater grace."

It's not an easy believism that smoothes over ruffled feathers. No quick kiss and make-up, and everything will be all right in the morning. No never mind what I just said.

It's a hard answer, a tough-poise reply, a shake-you-down-to-your-boots response.

God gives greater grace. Husky, burly truth here, that will buckle you to your knees, wrench your body, and convulse your soul. The tears won't stop, the nose runs from weeping, the lungs lose their breath from sobbing. (Read Jas. 4:7-10.)

God gives greater grace. To do the impossible, to extend forgiveness, to break the habit, to remake the image, to turn envy into contentment under his shadowed hand.

God gives greater grace. Greater than my puny sacrifices, greater than my trials and temptations, greater than my hang-ups and obsessions, greater than my personal pity party, greater than all the darkness and dirt that lurk in the deepest crevices of the soul.

God gives greater grace.

The one truth that keeps my head afloat.

The single spasm that puts one foot in front of the other.

The only rope that pulls me out and up.

The hardest rock that makes my softest pillow.

God gives greater grace.

I want to go there today.