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The "Cost" of Grace
by David A. DePra
 
     The title of this article is a contradiction of terms. Grace, by
definition, incurs NO cost. It wouldn't be "grace" if it did. Yet if you
walk with Jesus Christ you are going to find that His grace exacts
an incredible cost. The grace of God, will, in fact, cost you
everything you are.
     How can this be? Isn't grace free? Are we to earn the things of
God? No. Never. God's grace is totally free. That is the root of
the gospel. There isn't a thing you can do to earn, maintain, or
qualify for salvation, or for anything else in Jesus Christ. God has
said it. He has said that He gives us all things freely in Jesus
Christ.
     So what is this "cost of grace?" Well, it isn't a price I have to
pay FOR grace. It is a price I will pay BECAUSE OF grace.
Get that distinction. I can't pay anything FOR grace. There is
nothing I can do to earn it or merit it or maintain it. God gives
me EVERYTHING freely in His Son. But once God does that --
gives me His unconditionally free gift -- my possession of His
free gift is going to cost me everything.
     How so? Well, I can't do anything to obtain the grace of God.
But once I receive the grace of God, it will do plenty to ME! It will
strip me of all that I am and bring me into total dependence upon
Jesus Christ.
     Of course, the "ME" that will pay this great price is my old man
in Adam. My flesh -- the natural life -- is going to have to pay
a tremendous cost because I have received the free gift of God.
Once I receive the free gift of God, a process will begin that will
put to death everything in me of that old life, and set me free to the
new.
     What this tells us is that the "cost of grace" is to let go of that
which separated me from God. The "cost" is my prison, my sin, my
right to possess myself. Consequently, the "cost of grace" is
really no cost at all. Rather than pay a cost for grace, I am actually
the recipient of a great inheritance in Jesus Christ.
 
The Perspective of the Old Man
 
     As mentioned, the grace of God is "costly" only from the
perspective of the old creation. There is a reason for this. First of
all, we are all born INTO the old creation. This means that rather
than find us standing on neutral ground, God finds us in a place
we don't belong. He must then call us out of that. This means we
must leave behind everything which the natural man finds
comfortable and profitable. We must be depleted and reduced of
that, and made completely dependent upon God. To the old man
in Adam, that is a great price to pay.
     This "cost" to our flesh cannot be understated. In Adam, we
have no point of reference of operating other than self-will. It is
natural and normal for us to possess ourselves; to be our own
God. It is so natural, that we can scarcely grasp an alternative. So
when God, by His grace, begins to set us free from this, it will be
very traumatic. We will be taken out of where we were
comfortable, and be brought into a realm where we have never
lived -- with a different mode of operation: Total dependence
upon God. No righteousness of our own. A walk by faith alone.
This will cost our natural man everything.
     In the final analysis, the "cost of grace" is that we must DIE. All
that belongs to the old realm must go down to death. But again,
this isn't a "cost" we must pay in order to receive grace. No. It is
the price we will pay if we HAVE received it! Grace will begin a
work in us which will set us free from everything not of God! And
incredibly, because we are blind, we may think that we are losing
what is valuable!
 
Reactions in Trials
 
     If you have ever been through a great trial, you know that it
uproots all kinds of terrible reactions within you. Trials can make
you irritable, tense, and even angry. You may get depressed or
discouraged. You may even feel hopeless at times.
     Now, the temptation is to think that a REAL Christian, with
REAL faith, would never react in such ways. But that is utter
nonsense. The Truth is, it is quite possible to have all of those
unpleasant reactions, yet still believe God! It is possible to react in
those ways, yet to be standing by faith! My emotional reactions
and faith in God are not one and the same. My flesh isn't
necessarily going to behave -- even if I want it to. But I can
nevertheless refuse to be moved by my emotions and flesh, and
choose to believe!
     There are many times in our spiritual walk when we will react
badly, yet renounce our reactions. We will refuse to defend our
flesh, and refuse to align our wills with it. This is good. It is what
we must do in order to stand by faith. Our flesh isn't going to
behave! It is flesh! But we can still choose to stand by faith in
Jesus Christ.
     Now, what we are talking about here is a particular stage of
growth. Certainly, it is hoped that over the course of time, I will
grow to react less and less in the flesh, and more and more in the
Spirit. But even then, there are always deeper regions God will
plow. And when He plows, He will uncover deeper areas of the
flesh. It will be natural for my flesh to react on those levels as
well.
     The point is, no matter what stage I am at in my spiritual
growth, I'm not going to like being crucified. To me, it will be as if I
am losing something valuable. It will be like I am paying a terrible
price to walk with Jesus Christ. But again, that is only from the
perspective of where I am -- rather than from where God wants
to take me. If I could only see it, I'd see that I'm not paying any
price at all. I'm being set free from the things of death.
     Imagine being in prison all your life. Then, one day, you are
given an unconditional pardon. You have no concept of what that
really means. In fact, once you walk out of the prison cell, you are
completely out of your element. You don't know how to live. You
may even resent the fact that you were evicted from the prison! It
is only as you proceed forth into life that you learn to appreciate
your freedom, and realize just how much you were missing.
     It is like this spiritually. Most of us, when we are in a trial, feel
like we are paying a great price "for God." "I have given up so
much for God," we subtlely infer. "I have paid the price. I am a
martyr for Jesus Christ." And then we accumulate our spiritual
trophies and mount them on the wall. We become spiritually
proud. But we are blind. We have paid no price for our freedom.
     Jesus Christ paid the price. We were merely being set free from
that which held us, and from that which, quite frankly, pleased us
to a degree. Otherwise why the fuss? Why lament over what we
have LOST, if it did not please us?
     When Paul, in Philippians 3, said that he counted all things as
dung for the sake of knowing Jesus Christ, he was not lying to
himself -- to sort of make his loss easier to take. No. Paul had
seen something. He had seen that all of it WAS as dung. It was
worth no more. Paul had seen that everything he lost of himself
for the sake of Christ was no price to pay at all. When he lost
those things he lost little more than that which was hindering him.
     A great victory comes to anyone who sees what Paul sees. No
longer do they focus upon what THEY have given up for CHRIST.
Rather, then focus upon what HE has given up for THEM. They
realize that the cost of grace is something Jesus paid, not them.
We are merely recipients of all things. God gives them to us free
of charge in His Son. *

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