If we reject God’s grace, God doesn’t reject us. God is secure. He sees His children speaking against His grace and hurting one another, just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac: but He still loves all His children, just as Abraham still loved Ishmael.
If you know who you are in Christ and the great eternal riches of His grace, you have nothing to lose by turning the other cheek when you are misunderstood or even persecuted. Your peace is of more value than winning an argument or trying to preserve your reputation by defending yourself with those who resist God’s grace in you.
Grace has been under fire for a long time. Paul talked about it in Galatians when he used the symbolism of Isaac (the child of grace) being persecuted by Ishmael (the child of self-effort).
“Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh [Ishmael, self-effort] then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit [Isaac, grace through faith], even so it is now.” (Galatians 4:28-29)1
Even so it is now… Ishmael is still persecuting Isaac. Ishmael and Isaac have the same father (Abraham, the father of our faith), but not the same mother (Sarah was mother of grace, Hagar was mother of self-effort). People of self-effort will always persecute those who preach grace and live by grace. And those who are doing the persecuting are not those outside the church. They have the same spiritual father of the faith.
What is our response? Love and grace. If we are truly of grace, we will respond with kindness to every criticism and misunderstanding. Like Jesus said of those who crucified Him,
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”(Luke 23:34)
(from page 278 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.”
