SWHW Bible Reading Plan: June 2021Sample

Top Takeaway from Audra Haney:

I seem to see those “COEXIST” bumper stickers everywhere I drive now. It flaunts the crescent moon of Islam, the peace sign, a gender equality symbol, the star of David, the “I” represents paganism, a yin/yang representing Taoism, and finally a cross representing Christianity.

Maybe I’m more primed to notice them because of the swirling monologue they immediately ignite in my own mind.

I want to plead and petition from my car window, “Don’t you know the cross is different?” 

What sets the cross apart? Grace. Grace is God’s idea. Grace is free. Grace is so counter-cultural. The priceless gift of Christ’s blood shed for us, for free. 

Where every other religion or social cause on that bumper sticker says “do” in order to earn worth or acceptance, Christ says “done.” 

But, as I read in Paul’s letter of correction to the Galatians, I realize how easily my flesh rejects grace too. 

It’s so easy to add to grace. I’m always fighting the urge to add to my religious to-do list, checklist, or best-self list in order to earn God’s love. In this, I miss the point of the cross altogether and walk in a lifestyle that suggests the cross is useless. 

That was exactly what was happening to Paul’s church plant in Galatia. And it was exactly what grieved Paul the most. They had missed the miracle of grace and cheapened it with superficial “add-ons” and old traditions so quickly after his departure.

 “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”  Galatians 2:21

And yet, I can also swing so hard the other way by excusing my blatant sin that keeps me captive and refusing the gift of repentance that Christ paid such a high price for. I forget that the kindness of His grace leads to repentance. In doing so, I abuse grace.

What’s the solution for my flesh that always tends to ride the pendulum of wrong thinking? 

Daily crucifixion.  

“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:19-20

I set aside my human logic. I let both Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross and the power of His resurrection, direct my daily living. I always keep it before my eyes. 

May we never lose sight of His amazing grace.

Jesus, thank You for the priceless gift of the cross. Thank You that I never have to earn Your love. Thank You that grace allows and empowers me to walk in Your ways. May my life always reflect Your grace and may I never try to cheapen or abuse it. Keep my eyes on the cross. Help me to choose daily crucifixion. Help me to show others how amazing grace really is.  Amen.