Sunday: Grace, Stealing, and No More Mr. Nice Guy

"Cheap grace is the enemy of the church. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, an intellectual assent to the idea is held to be sufficient to secure remission of sins. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance........grace without discipleship......grace without a cross.....Costly grace is the gospel (of the church)....It is costly because it costs a man his life, and grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his son.....it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our lives. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God....when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. That is why the rich young man was so loath to follow Jesus, for the cost of his following was the death of his will. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts."

---Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Hat tip: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, New York

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In continuing his series on the life of Moses, Lon Solomon talks today about the Eighth Commandment, thou shall not steal. And as always, it goes much deeper than we want to think.

By the way, I wrote about the first time my own criminal nature came out publicly as a child in a recent post entitled "Slopmadoodle." Remember, children are notorious thieves. I know I was. But I was fortunate to have parents who did not tolerate the evidence of my criminal nature lightly, and punished me very severely.

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Think Christian men, and women for that matter, are supposed to be nice and wimpy? Well, think again, as the cliche goes. It's a mistaken notion that many people have because Christ commands us to love. But often we mistake what love is and isn't.

This week, Dr. James Dobson, of Focus on the Family, talked to author Paul Coughlin about the difference between being a nice guy and a good man. Coughlin has written a book entitled, "No More Christian Nice Guy," and it has implications for every aspect of a man's life, including his sex life. Women listen up too. Real men know what they stand for, say what they mean---however politically incorrect---and mean what they say. It's called character. They stay the course, no matter what the hardship.

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 can be accessed here.

Well worth listening to and taking to heart, in my opinion.