“Grace is opposed to earning, not to effort.”

Have you ever heard a quote that knocked you over and at the same time left you hanging? That was this for me… I remember thinking, ‘man, that’s good… what does that mean?’ I wish I could have raised my hand and asked Dallas Willard to expound, but that would have been inappropriate in the middle of his keynote at Catalyst.

Grace is not opposed to effort.

I find that I am prone to either lean towards a view of grace that doesn’t lead to action OR lean towards having a spirit of earning in what I do as a follower of Jesus. Neither are in line with the costly grace of Jesus.

In 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul says this…

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”

“I worked harder than all of them…” Paul worked. In fact, harder than anyone. The grace of God in Paul’s life was not passive, and it is not passive in our lives either. Grace is not opposed to effort – in fact, it inspires effort. “His grace to me was not without effect.”

We’re told to “work out our salvation” (Phil 2:12). And in Col. 4:2, Paul tells the church at Colossae that Epaphras has been “laboring” for them in prayer. (I find it comforting that Paul said that prayer is labor at times…)

The key to our understanding of spiritual work is the motivation behind the work. If our spiritual work is done in a spirit of earning, then it is opposed to grace and we’ve become Pharisees.

But if our spiritual work is done in response to grace, then it is obedience – the right response to who God is and what He’s done.

Sometimes sanctification feels like work, and that’s ok – in fact, it should according to Paul. We need to be careful to not throw away disciplined living because we are afraid of legalism.