Theology Blog

“Discipleship is not a contract in which if we break our part of the agreement He is free to break His; it is a covenant in which He established the conditions and guarantees the results. . . All the persons of faith I know are sinners, doubters, uneven performers. We are secure not because we are sure of ourselves but because we trust that God is sure of us.” Eugene Peterson

I found this quote from Eugene Peterson in a devotional of his material that I read to be very helpful, powerful and succinct. I have been thinking a lot about discipleship lately and I think his words here are very helpful. We still have a works based understanding of God in many ways whether its under the guise of favor or punishment. It’s the karma mentality that is not at all consistent with the grace of God and God’s covenant with us. God has shown us what the life of a disciple looks like. Its not complicated to understand, but it is hard to live out. Our journey is the discipleship journey, to become more like Christ each and ever day. Regardless of our success and failures in that effort, we are secure in Christ. Trust is the essence of faith and perhaps the greatest act of trust in our relationship with God is to trust that God is sure of us and that we are God’s beloved regardless of performance, personality or circumstance.