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“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

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Our time has been called the information age. We have more of it at our fingertips than previous generations could have imagined. And each day we gain more knowledge.  For many the key to the human future is knowledge. Knowledge will power us to a utopian human future, they say.

For others, power itself is what matters. Power in the form of money, political leverage, military might, the capacity to wheel and deal and aquire wealth. Life coaching types make millions off the promise of helping people discover and apply ‘personal power’, which is supposed to unleash one’s power to achieve success, however defined. The world is obsessed with knowledge and power as the levers, once properly controlled, that will bring us the life we want. We see it all around us and in ourselves.

You were created in the image of God. The Bible tells us so and this is a high calling. Therefore, the fact that knowledge and power preoccupy us is no accident. They are supreme gifts that distinguish us among all creatures. God is all-powerful and He has given you some power. God is all knowing and has given you some knowledge.

But there is a third characteristic of God for which you were also made and it is more important by far than the other two: holiness and righteousness. God is all-holy, we are not holy. This, not the lack of knowledge or power, is the great human tragedy. When the awesome gifts of knowledge and power are in the hands of a creature that lacks the most important quality God has given us, His very holiness, those gifts become tainted and our lives and the world look the way they do. And we have no solution.

In Christ Jesus, God has addressed our betrayal of Him and our descent into unholiness. He took up a cross and allowed our unholiness to crucify Him. Three days later he was raised from the dead. Now in a miracle of love and mercy, God has determined that His holiness and righteous are His gift to us through faith in Christ. It is this faith, not what we know or are able to do, that restores us to our Creator, the world and ourselves. Why has God done this? Is some remnant of righteousness left in us that makes us worth loving. Hardly. God loves us not because of who we are but in spite of us. His love is sheer, undeserved gift. The Bible’s word for it is grace. Our knowledge and power will not save us. The grace of God in Christ Jesus will.

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“May the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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