Living Upon

It's been forty-plus years but I remember the days of living with and on very little.  Rent was $50 a month for a small place with a washer but no dryer.  There was, however, a trusty clothes line where the backdoor neighbors got a good view of our laundry -- underwear and all! "The Grace which delivers us from Hell also fits us for Heaven. That Grace which cancels our guilt also subdues our corruptions. That Grace which emancipates us from our bondage to sin equally dethrones the tyrant." (Octavius Winslow).  Most of us can look back to a time when we survived on much less.  As we mature as Christians, we encounter the "tyrant" Winslow mentions -- Satan.  He does all we allow to subvert (undermine) living upon the Grace of Christ.  Such has been my ongoing struggle to move beyond God's forgiveness in victory rather than despair.  The guilt of past and fear of future failure must not hinder the Joy of God's rich and perfect Salvation nor His Grace in moments of need.  Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  We do not stand condemned in eternity nor in the present!  Winslow concludes, "We are as much to live upon Christ for sanctification as for pardon and justification."  Truth is, Christians do not live upon so little -- we live upon much -- God's rich and abundant Grace!