“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Romans 5:1–2, ESV

I have often come back to Romans 5:1 as a promise to be treasured. Because of our faith in Jesus, we can experience peace with God. So much could be written about this verse.

But look at the next verse, in it Paul tells us that because of our relationship with Jesus, we have access to “this grace in which we stand.” It is not hard to figure out that Paul expects Christians to stand in grace.

But grace is a hard concept for many of us. Or, at least, this is the conclusion I draw both from self-examination and observation of how others live.

What does it mean to stand in grace?

At a minimum, it must mean that we understand something about the relationship we have with God if we are in Jesus Christ. We understand that our standing with God is based on grace and not based on what we do or who we are.

But I’m finding that to stand in grace requires much more than just a proper understanding of the important Biblical doctrine of Grace Alone. I need to let my heart absorb what my head thinks it understands.

To stand in grace requires me to let go of the perfectionism that I have acquired through some combination of nature and nurture. To stand in grace requires me to allow myself and others to fail and make mistakes and respond in acceptance and love. To stand in grace requires me to take a deep breath and stop striving to prove that I’m worthy of relationship with others, especially in relation to God.

The analogy of an umbrella comes to mind. If I stand under the grace umbrella, the acid rain of condemnation and criticism does not burn me. I stand protected by the grace of Jesus Christ.

I don’t have to do anything other than stand under the umbrella.

Just stand.

No movement is required.

“Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom. For judment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

James 2:13-13 (CSB)

The last line in these two verses really struck me. “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” This has not always been my experience in dealing with other Christians.

First, I have to admit that I can be like the Pharisee loudly proclaiming in the Temple how much better he is than the tax collector next to him (see Luke 18:9-14). While I may not say it out loud, there are times when I feel way more judgemental than merciful to the people around me. The irony in Jesus’ parable is that while reading the Pharisee’s declaration “Thank God I’m not like this tax collector” I can think, “Thank God I’m not like that Pharisee.”

Every day I need to seek God to do a new work in my heart to make me ready to be an agent of mercy and grace; it does not come naturally to me. And in my experience, it does not appear to come naturally to others.

I have been the victim of church situations where a person or group has taken a hard line on things in which Scripture is not clear. The stand can be on really silly things; the controversy over long hair on men in the ’60s and ’70s comes to mind.

The hard stand can be on minor points of doctrine that bring more division than comfort. I’m thinking now of a denomination with which I was involved that has a very narrow view of end times events based on a particular understanding of a few verses in the Bible. This belief became the test of orthodoxy among that group and anyone who didn’t have the “correct” understanding was looked at as suspect. Their sense of superiority was rooted in how smart they were to figure out all the clues like spiritual Hercule Poirots.

Never mind that Scripture is not clear on these things. Never mind that good, solid, Bible scholars have had other interpretations. Never mind that Jesus himself gave us hints about what the end would look like but then told us that no man knows when He is returning and we shouldn’t spend a lot of time worrying about it.

My whole point in this is that every believer needs to submit his inner Pharisee to the scrutiny and guidance of the Holy Spirit and daily ask for the grace to offer mercy instead of judgment to the people around us. Even now, I have to struggle with feeling superior to those in that denomination who got stuck on basing their identity on such a silly thing as understanding the end times.

We all fail to live up to the standard we have set for ourselves. We are all inconsistent in having our actions match what we claim to believe.

We need to offer grace and mercy to ourselves and to others.

We are forgiven by God and need to readily forgive those around us.

I recently read or listened my way through Psalm 119 and found many of the verses particularly encouraging. As a result, I thought it would be good to slow down and meditate on this psalm. There is a richness in it that I never quite realized before. For example, look at the first verse.

How happy are those whose way is blameless,
who walk according to the Lord’s instruction!

Psalm 119:1 (CSB)

But wait a minute. My inner Pharisee screams in my ear to remind me that my way is not blameless, I have sinned just like everyone else, and as much as everyone else. I have fallen short of absolute moral perfection.

Am I disqualified from the blessing?

Fortunately, I find that the word that is translated blameless doesn’t carry the connotation of absolute moral perfection. It carries the idea of integrity, of living life without hypocrisy. The Faithlife Study Bible says this:

The Hebrew word used here, tamim, emphasizes a high degree of integrity and honesty rather than absolute perfection.

The second phrase of this verse is another clue. The ones that are happy are those who walk according to God’s instruction. The Psalmist indicates that those who seek to understand and apply Scripture to their lives are blessed.

Let’s summarize. Those who seek to follow God’s instruction in Scripture and do so with integrity and honesty are blessed. Wow, that doesn’t seem so daunting when expressed that way.

Growing up in a legalistic environment where it was all about rule-keeping and making people think you are better than you are, I was always confused by the failures of the Hebrew Patriarchs.

Abraham lied about his wife. Moses murdered an Egyptian and then had to flee for his life. David committed adultery and then committed murder in an attempt to cover up the affair. Jacob tricked his dad to get a blessing. Joseph seemed a bit proud about being the favorite and needed to be taken down a peg. All of the heroes of the Bible display some serious flaws with the possible exception of Daniel who seems to have gotten it right every time.

But I have not gotten it right every time.

It was not until I was pretty far into adulthood that I really began to understand that perfect obedience is not the standard. Jesus came to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. That is the gospel, that is the good news. We can’t measure up and we don’t have to, Jesus did it for us.

So, you and I can be blessed because we seek God for the strength and wisdom to follow his commands and do it with honesty and integrity.

That is indeed good news.

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“When we read scripture, we have to think about whether the people who wrote it might actually have meant something by it. They did! They are talking about the reality of the kingdom of the heavens—the stone that was cut out without hands and is going to wipe out all the nations of the earth (Dan. 2:45) is already here! It is the stone that is the rock of offense and stumbling. It’s Jesus Christ himself, the Chief Cornerstone, and he is here. And if we’re not in touch with that, then we’re just going to be whistling in the dark like everyone else, scrambling around to make a good appearance of things, but not having a reality that gives us peace and strength. So we need to deal with that if we haven’t reached that place in our lives. We need help in making that our context. Now, once it’s made, then we’re going to be so different that people are going to look and say, “What’s going on there? How can you live like that?”

-Dallas Willard

I don’t know about you, but I need a “reality that gives us peace and strength.” Without understanding and appropriating that reality, I find myself off balance and confused by the different voices around me offering advice on the path forward.

But then I am reminded that Jesus promised that he will overcome the world. Jesus promised that He will be with me always, even when life is painful and confusing. As Larry Norman said long ago, “He’s the rock that doesn’t roll.”