I've just finished my edit of our latest edition of Go! magazine for Presbyterian Youth. (No... this doesn't mean it's coming out next week... calm down). It contains a stack of great articles, reviews and other stuff encouraging people by reminding them what happened at Summer Camp this year, and exhorting the Christians to keep growing. But as I was reading through, I think I started to notice a trend. It's not something that has come up a lot, but instead it's one of the subtle 'are we going the right way type questions'. But let me back up a bit.

I'm quite big on our calling as Christians. Eph 2:8 - 10 puts it quite well when it says that we are saved by grace, to do the good work which God has planned for us to do. Titus 2:11 - 14 adds some extra weight to it. It says that God saved us so that he could build a people that were his, eager, to do the good work he has prepared for us to do. How clear is it that God wants, even demands that we act like his people, living by faith, under his grace, and striving to be the holy people he has called us to be.

Over the years I grew up in the Church I got quite frustrated. I saw a lot of Christians using God's grace as an excuse to not do anything. It seems they had ignored the bit of Romans that says "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!" Grace was a veil that meant we could do what we liked, because God had forgiven us for our sins. People did not desire to be holy, merely to be saved. Slowly, but surely, I've noticed a trend. We have moved away from this consumeristic mentality. The church now also encourages us to live as changed people. We emphasise the calling we have received. We emphasise that we need to be holy, just as the one who called us is holy.

But recently, I've noticed that we have stopped linking grace with our work. The danger here is subtle. It's not that we don't mention God's grace. We are very big on people being saved by faith, through grace. It's just the bit after that that becomes a problem. It's when people start to look at other Christians and say, "You aren't as good a Christian as me, because I can see all the wrong things you do." (Of course, we wouldn't say that out loud, we'd just think it). It's when we look at ourselves and say, "Look at that other person. See how holy they are. They don't swear, are always on time for Church; they don't appear to struggle with sin, how much of a bad Christian am I." It's when we start thinking that God calls us to be 'better' Christians. It's when we stop realising that God has already saved us perfectly. Absolutely. There is no question. You are 100% saved, 100% righteous in God's sight, and it is that fact that provides us with our ultimate motivation to change.

Sure, we do want to be better Christians. Sure, we look at others and see the righteousness or holiness that they exude and want that for ourselves. But we must be driven by God's grace, ever returning to the cross and realising that Jesus' death really is sufficient to cover all of our sins. Jesus took us just as we are, sin and all, and continues to love us at all times. Is grace dead? Well... to be honest, no. It can never die. God's grace will always be sufficient for us. But let's not become the Church, the people of God, who get so caught up in what we do, that we forget exactly what it is that Christ has done.