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As sinners, we often walk a tightrope between presuming on God's mercy and despairing of our salvation.

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We actually just had this in RCIA last night, Alicia. We're studying the first three commandments. Presumption and Despair, like two sides of a coin, believing we're too good for hell or too bad for heaven instead of leaving our lives in God's hands. :)

See, this is one of the reasons it's good to know that our salvation has nothing to do with our goodness, which is tenuous enough to begin with, and can't be negated by our badness, which is our steady state. We were his enemies when he died for us and declared peace in his resurrection. Why we keep fighting, either to dethrone him or to win his favor, is beyond me.

And unfortunately my response is often to jump off the tightrope and go deaf to both the voice of God and the voice of my conscience (which I know is the same thing...)

The tension should be there, but it's exhausting.

It is not true that badness is our steady state!
If we are baptized and haven't committed unrepented and unconfessed mortal sin, we are in a state of sactifying grace. God is working in us to make us more like Himself. We still commit venial sins, but repent of them quickly, and remain in sactifying grace, and continue to grow in holiness. The grace won for us by Christ on the cross doesn't just get us off from the punishment due to us for originial sin and the sins we our selves have committed, while leaving us unchanged-it transforms us. Those in whom this sanctification is far advanced can be said to merit salvation. But it always should be said that they merit it only by grace and by the work of grace in them, not of their own doing.

It is a heresy to say that our steady state is badness. We were His enemies but he transforms us into his friends and in a state of grace we are in His favor.

Susan Peterson

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This page contains a single entry by alicia published on January 18, 2005 7:57 PM.

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