Luke 7:1-10
v. 7 "Therefore I did not presume to come to you."
How guilty are we of presuming upon God's grace?
The centurion, not a usual fan of the Jewish folks, had a need. The centurion understood Jesus to be a healer; the fame of the Lord had spread quickly once His earthly ministry began. The centurion was sure of Jesus' ability--you could say the centurion correctly presumed upon Jesus' sufficient power. But the centurion did not presume upon grace. He did not expect Jesus to accept such a sinner as he on a personal basis. He had faith that Jesus could heal; he did not expect Jesus to heal based upon his righteousness. He was unrighteous, plain and simple--and approached Jesus in complete humility.
I think one danger we have, especially as Southern Baptists, is to, in our passion for the 'security of the believer', presume upon God's grace. In other words, we act sinfully (whether it be outright and flagrant stuff or just secretive manuevering, even simple inner bad attitudes) with the confidence of forgiveness after the fact.
Another danger that may plague us as Christians in general is an attitude of arrogance that fails to recognize our unworthiness to ask God for anything. The only access we have to God is through Jesus. Do we dare to approach the Father through the Son when our lives are tainted unapologetically with sinfulness, expecting God to hear our pleas when our lives are an affront to the cross? There is much humanistic philosophy sprinkled with a bit of theology that makes us to feel as if we deserve God's prosperous blessings in our life. Can we really believe that we measure up to such deservedness?
On the other hand, God's grace is a promise for those lives which recognize their own unworthiness and unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). There is a cleansing fount that cannot be held back according to the promise of God for those who bow low with penitent, contrite hearts. We can presume upon God's ability--for that is the evidence of faith in His Word. But to presume upon God's action is to put ourselves in a position other than "sinner in need of grace." Our lives must not be lived upon presumption, but on our knees before a Holy God.
