Christianity may be summed up in grace or God reaching down to us (condescending) and acting on our behalf in doing for us what we didn't deserve--this is unique in Christianity. All other religions are based on works because man is incurably addicted to doing something for his salvation (cf. John 6:28-29) and are summed up in man's effort to gain the approbation or approval of God by his good deeds, rituals, morality, etc. You might say man's vain effort in reaching out to please God.
The Christian life is about seeking God and His presence and face in our daily walk. But this does not take place apart from grace: we didn't find Him; He found us. Pascal said that he would not have sought God, had He first found Him. Paul said that "there is none that seeks God" in Rom. 3. God's chief quarrel with man, says John Stott, is that he doesn't seek. God is no man's debtor and if we seek we will find.
The miracle is that He is found by those who were not looking: "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me" (Isa. 65:1). Many people are looking for the benefits, not the Benefactor. Actually, according to R. C. Sproul, the search for God begins at conversion, it doesn't end there. Jonathan Edwards said that seeking God is the main business of the Christian. When we say we found God, we really mean He found us. We begin our search for God at salvation because only in the Spirit can we know Him and be aware of Him. Soli Deo Gloria!
The Christian life is about seeking God and His presence and face in our daily walk. But this does not take place apart from grace: we didn't find Him; He found us. Pascal said that he would not have sought God, had He first found Him. Paul said that "there is none that seeks God" in Rom. 3. God's chief quarrel with man, says John Stott, is that he doesn't seek. God is no man's debtor and if we seek we will find.
The miracle is that He is found by those who were not looking: "I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me" (Isa. 65:1). Many people are looking for the benefits, not the Benefactor. Actually, according to R. C. Sproul, the search for God begins at conversion, it doesn't end there. Jonathan Edwards said that seeking God is the main business of the Christian. When we say we found God, we really mean He found us. We begin our search for God at salvation because only in the Spirit can we know Him and be aware of Him. Soli Deo Gloria!
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