By Sheer Will or Grace?
Have you ever accomplished anything by sheer will? You achieved something through your own strong determination and willpower, without relying on external assistance or factors.
Or possibly you achieved something by your unwavering determination, despite significant obstacles. People like Rosa Parks or Nelson Mandela both overcame significant obstacles in their push for social justice or ending apartheid. Rosa Park’s refusal to give up her bus seat was the catalyst for the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Mandela’s refusal to let decades of imprisonment deter his push to end institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination are testaments to their determined sheer will.
Maybe you have overcome an addiction or debilitating illness, started a business, or achieved a goal with unwavering will power and determination. I could give several examples in my own life. I can think of one early example. I was a junior in high school. I ran track, running the sprints and relays. I had lost six straight 440 yard dashes to an athlete from a neighboring school. I was determined to not let that streak continue. He always ran a better race than me, out strategizing me every time.
It was the last track meet of the season before the league meet. We were running against that school. Leading up to the meet, I worked by butt off, training and working on “last 100 yards” strategies, the part of the race where he had excelled in our previous races. He was a much better quarter miler than I was, but that day, by sheer will, guts and determination, leaving everything I had on the track, I won the race by five or six steps. I did it! He beat me a few days later in the league meet, and while that was disappointing, I was satisfied that I beat him at least once. (He was a senior, so we never ran against each other after that.)
I think many Jesus-followers often try to live the life we are called to live by that same sheer will. We say, if I just try harder. It is not mind over matter. It is not with Superman’s sheer force of will. That approach usually, if not always, leads to frustration. While there is great truth in us playing a part in our own changed life, it is not simply about stopping old habits and instituting better religious ones. The Christian life doesn’t come through self-improvement, or through sheer will. Rather, we are transformed into the people God desires us to be by the saving power of Jesus Christ – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
It is through grace that we were saved in the first place. And it is by that same grace that, if we truly trust in the words and works of Jesus, our lives become transformed lives. It is obedience that allows God to work in us and through us. We become an empowered person. Empowered to turn away from the old. Turn away from the old things and become new creatures – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
We play a part in helping the “old to pass away,” but permanent change only comes in God’s initiating grace, through Jesus who is our implementing change agent, and because of the Spirit’s energizing transforming power. Any other method is fruitless. It is not sheer will. Instead, it is grace. Embrace and live in that truth!
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