Too precious to take for granted
In the cloud and in the sea they were all baptised as followers of Moses. All ate the same spiritual bread and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them; and that rock was Christ himself. But even then God was not pleased with most of them, and so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert. (verses 2-5)
We cannot take God’s grace for granted. I am not saying we cannot be sure that we are saved, that we have eternal life. But we cannot take for granted the grace God gives us.
By this I mean that we cannot assume that faith does not need to be fed. Our baptism was not a magical act that needs no follow-up. The faith that God created in us through baptism needs to be nurtured, fed by regular contact with the word. Faith which is not fed dies.
Our baptismal faith needs to be fed by the word in Sunday School, in our homes, in confirmation. But this is not the end. We need – all of our lives – to worship regularly. But, more than that, we need to read and study God’s word in meditation, in Bible studies, in friendship groups. There are no exceptions; we all need to keep growing in faith and in our relationship with Jesus. Without regular contact with the word, this doesn’t happen.
We cannot take God’s grace for granted. Grace is a free gift to us, but it is given at great cost to God. We need to live in it, live it, and stay close to God.
Father, I cannot thank you enough for all you have done for me. Open my heart to your Spirit so that I may always see my need to be fed by you. Amen.
by Bob Turnbull, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)
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