We would be tempted to “sin because we are not under the law but under grace” if our relationship to Jesus was merely a legalistic one, and we were only trying to push the “legal” boundaries of what we could or could not do. But if we were in a personal relationship with Jesus, and we truly grew to love Him, why would we consider abusing the relationship in that way? Thinking in that way is an abuse of a loving relationship, just as it would be between two human beings. We don’t take our loved ones for granted in that way, do we?
Jesus says something similar to His disciples when He uses an image of a master of a house and a thief coming to break in to talk about being prepared for when the “Son of Man will come.” (Luke 12:39-48) When Peter asks if this is meant for them (the apostles) or for everyone, Jesus uses another image: that of a “faithful and prudent steward” who is found doing his duty when the master arrives. He also says: “But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the manservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely…” Again, if that unfaithful servant had a loving relationship with his master, he would not have been unfaithful.
If we get away from a legalistic or transactional kind of relationship and instead accept God’s love and seek to love God in return, we will be willing to be faithful servants. And when we do turn away from God, it will not take much for us to turn back. May we be willing to enter into that kind of relationship with God in Jesus Christ.
It's grace that empowers us to resist sin. Without it, we repeatedly fail. That’s why the Sacrament of Confession is extraordinarily helpful. Since this avenue of forgiveness is a sacrament, we receive more than forgiveness: We receive God's grace.
However, if we offer ourselves to God before we sin, we put ourselves into his grace and receive his aid for resisting temptation. The Blessed Mother was able to avoid sinning because she was full of grace. Grace is God's supernatural gift to help us rise above our sinful tendencies.
The more Christ-like we become, the easier it is to resist temptation. However, holiness is a difficult journey. Desiring to be Christ-like isn't enough to keep us from sinning. We need supernatural grace.
Grace empowers us. Without grace, we're enslaved to sin, which leads to death; the death of our souls. With grace, we choose the path of obedience, doing what God wants us to do, because we love Him and want to be like Him, rather than doing what we're tempted to do apart from God. By choosing to place ourselves under His benevolent authority, we accept the holy power of our Good Master, and this enables us to be righteous.
Surrender (offering ourselves to God) is the catalyst that turns a temptation into a victory. Thus, if I feel hurt by an injustice done to me and vengeful anger begins to dictate my response, I can choose to pause and place myself under God's grace. This means choosing to be merciful to those who treated me unfairly, praying for them and, if appropriate, finding a good deed to do for them, treating them better than the way they treated me. Under God's grace, I can take this holy approach. Under God's grace, with the anger gone, I can figure out how He wants me to bring justice to the situation.
Surrender and obedience stop temptation and prevent sin. Handling others gracefully gets our focus off of their sins and helps us pay attention to how Jesus Himself is giving us the love and the goodness that others have denied to us.
Only under God's grace can we successfully do the opposite of what we're tempted to do. Only under God's grace are we able to be victorious in our walk of holiness. By the grace of God, we live in righteousness and change the world around us.
Grace also comes to us by fostering a daily habit of interior prayer. An interior habit of prayer means we are, in a sense, always praying. It means that no matter what we do each and every day, our minds and hearts are always turned toward God. It’s like breathing. We always do it and do it without even thinking about it. Prayer must become just as much of a habit as breathing. It must be central to who we are and how we live.
The moments we dedicate exclusively to prayer each day are essential to our holiness and relationship with God. Those moments must help to build a habit of always being attentive to God. Being prepared this way will allow us to meet Christ at every moment that He comes to us by grace.
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