Grace Means We Can Breathe Easy

Fellow blogger and good friend, Stan, has a very powerful analogy of breathing in his post, Breathe. He says, "I have been thinking over the past two days about how to explain clearly the role of our will when the word "Breathe" kept rising in my spirit.
While you were reading this post up till this very moment, have you noticed that you were and still are breathing? Were you consciously commanding yourself to breathe or were you just breathing without really thinking about the fact you were breathing?

I don't know about you but most of the time, I am not even conscious of the fact that I am breathing! I only notice my breathing when I am NOT AT REST or doing something strenuous.

Similarly, that is how Phil 2:12-13 works. When we are resting in the grace of God, our will and God's will become one; and we do, without being conscious of the fact that we are doing!"

I want to continue with this spot on analogy of breathing in my comparison of grace with works. When a believer knows that he is under grace, his walk with the Lord is like breathing, he is unconscious of self-effort, because his eyes are fixed on Christ and His finished work on the cross. I call this the grace walk. When we know that Christ has fulfilled every aspect of the law and we are in Him, we can breathe easy because the work has been done! "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." (Romans10:4 NKJ) Christ said IT IS FINISHED on the cross, which means there is nothing we can ever do to add to His prefect work. I do not have to perform or try my utmost best to fulfil the law to get into God’s good books. I am righteous (have right standing with God) in Christ because of what Jesus has done for me on the cross, not because of what I have done or can ever do. Praise the Lord! This is grace! We can be at rest and breathe easy now that we know the burden is not on our behaviour or good works, can’t we?

When we focus on the person of Jesus and His finished work, we are like Mary, Martha’s sister. Mary sat at Jesus' feet, she was not conscious of her breathing, but Martha was stressed out and "hyperventilating", blaming everyone around her for not caring that she was working so hard. Jesus said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41,42 NKJ)

In contrast to breathing easy is laboured breathing. Labour in the Old Testament is always associated with hard work and human effort, “the labor of my hands” (Genesis 31:42), “Rachel labored in childbirth” (Genesis 35:16), “hard labor” (Genesis35: 17”), “you shall labor and do all your work” (Exodus 20:9). There are many more besides these examples. In our Christian walk, if we think that we have to constantly score points with God by keeping the law or by doing good works, then we become very focused on ourselves. This is always lacking because we are imperfect and when we depend on our self-efforts to earn our right standing with God, we will become very stressed and our breathing will become laboured. Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 NKJ)

Interestingly, the only labour that the bible says we should do as believers under the covenant of grace is to labour to enter that rest, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Hebrews 4:9-11 KJV)

Are you labouring to enter into that rest?