Grace

It turns out there's a big difference between symptoms and their underlying condition. If you have cancer, it won't go away if you drink energy shots to manage the fatigue and take aspirin to deal with the headaches. Unfortunately, you might need surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. It's a severe response, but it's what can fix the real problem.

In a similar way, we often try to manage the symptoms of sin, but not the sin itself. That makes sense because fixing sin is beyond our control. How many sin management strategies have you been taught—or tried? Whether it is accountability groups, church attendance, Bible study, silent retreats, or fasting, none of these techniques are sufficient to deal with our sin.

**But the problem of sin is not beyond God's capacity! And God's answer to sin is grace.**

The Bible teaches us that God is gracious. In Exodus 34, God declares his character: "The LORD—the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin."

So how does God demonstrate that he is gracious?

First, God is gracious in creation. He made everything good. Our very beings are stamped with God's image!

Next, God goes beyond forgiveness to transformation. When God sees that our being is disfigured by sin, he responds with grace. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!"

Further, God not only gives us new hearts, he lives within us so that we can live new lives. Paul teaches, "Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?"

**It is because God is grace and God is gracious that there is an answer to our sin. God's grace is the healing power that redeems us from sin and transforms our lives—forever.**

Does this mean we just sit back and enjoy the show? By no means! Now we can hear Paul's encouragement with a clear mind: "But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification—and the outcome is eternal life!"