I have two favorite TV shows: This Old House and Ask This Old House. Maybe it is because I live in an old house. Saturday nights from 5:30 – 6:30 pm are sacred. This is when the new episodes come out. If I happen to miss them for some reason, they are released on-line at 6:00 pm, central, each Sunday night.
In one of the recent episodes the house they were working on had a water pressure problem. Its water inlet had become plugged and even though they were connected to the water main it just wasn’t getting to the house. The solution was obvious; they dug a trench and ran a new water line to the house.
Of course, there were other options they could have done. The family could have shouted, “Hey, Culligan man?” and had bottles of water delivered to their home every day. They could have set a large barrel on their roof to collect rain water for the family’s needs. Each night, they could have snuck over to their neighbor’s house and filled jugs of water off of their outside faucet. They even could have scheduled a daily pilgrimage to Wal-Mart to buy cases of bottled water to quench their thirst.
All of these methods could have worked, and sometimes we have to do them. But the ordinary means for getting water is to connect a line to the water main. Right?
Sometimes a person may ask me why they have to be baptized, take communion, read their bible, pray, attend church, or serve others. Is this really the only way we can experience God’s grace? Are these really the only ways God speaks? They may say, “I don’t like structure and rules, I want to experience God in my own way. You are making it sound these things are requirements to be saved.” It is true they are not necessary for salvation, but yet, they are. It is one of the many paradoxes of faith.
God works in many different ways. There are many different ways we might experience and receive God’s grace. Just like there are many different ways we can get water into our homes. However, God has also set-up ordinary means by which we receive his grace. It is not that we don’t sometimes receive his grace in other ways, but the spiritual practices are the ordinary way we receive his grace. If the ordinary way of getting water into your home is to tap into the water main and the ordinary way of receiving God’s grace is through the spiritual practices, does it not make sense to tap in?
Pastor Stephen