June 25 - Walking It Out

Grace is free, but it isn't passive. Pastor Mike and Jason dig into the difference between receiving forgiveness and actually walking it out — and why transformation was always meant to be a partnership. In this episode, Mike draws the Methodist understanding of faith as walking hand in hand with God: we're saved by grace through faith, not by works — but right after that, Scripture says we're created to do good works. Not to earn anything. As a response of gratitude for what we've been rescued from. That's why he works with newcomers — not out of obligation, but out of gratitude. Jason brings his sponsor's teaching that lands the whole theme: the second you tell someone about the good you did, it stops counting, because now it's about you. It's the things you do when no one's watching. He takes aim at performative charity — the guys recording themselves handing food to the homeless — and Mike adds the careful nuance: sharing your experience to encourage another person in recovery isn't bragging; it's testimony. The line is whether it's about look at me or look at God. Then the heart of it — Jason's road back to church. More than 20 years adamantly against organized religion after a Southern Baptist church refused to marry him and his wife, and how AA and his relationship with his higher power opened the pathway back, not just to God, but to Jesus Christ. Stronger faith in the rooms, both of them agree, than they often see in the pews. Simple things to do — but that doesn't make them easy. Forgiveness is not passive. It is received and lived. Christian recovery | 12-step faith | sobriety devotional | grace and works | living your faith | testimony | back to church | addiction recovery | AA and faith | sober living Daily entries at dailyripples.com — [email protected] Daily Ripples connects recovery principles with the life of faith. New episodes every day.