Can we earn God's Grace?

I was recently reminded of an important biblical truth. It is pretty foundational and yet I discovered that I had strayed pretty far from this truth in my thought processes. In the third chapter of Galatians, Paul wrote,

  "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (Galatians 3:3-5)

Even though I know it's foolish to try to earn God's favor by my own weak efforts, that's exactly what I found myself trying to do, until someone was kind enough to point it out to me.

Jerry Bridges of The Navigators wrote,

"One of the best kept secrets among Christians is this: Jesus paid it all. I mean all. He not only purchased your forgiveness of sins and your ticket to Heaven,  He purchased every blessing and every answer to prayer you will ever receive. Every one of them--no exceptions. Why is this such a well-kept secret? For one thing we are afraid of this truth. We are afraid even to tell ourselves that we don't have to work anymore, the work is all done. We are afraid that if we really believe this, we will slack off in our Christian duties. . . At best, the Christian life is viewed as a mixture of personal performance and God's grace." ^{( Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace  (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), Page 19)}

This described my own condition until a few weeks ago. But, how did I arrive there? I don't remember making such a choice or a decision. I have always thought, that "nobody believes in grace like I do!"  Yet when confronted, I found myself clearly believing in the mixture of grace and works as the formula for living the Christian life. I knew I was saved by grace and that I would enter heaven by grace, but I figured (somehow) that I was mainly responsible for the life in between.
But if God's blessings to us do not depend on our obedience or performance, if in fact, it is true that "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:20) then we could assume that we can live as we please, sin all we want, and God will bless us anyway. The entire sixth chapter of Romans is Paul's response to this very question. Paul says here,

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. " (Romans 6:12-15)

"Just as the preaching of justification by grace is open to misunderstanding, so is the teaching of living by grace. The solution to this problem is not to add legalism to grace. Rather, the solution is to be so gripped by the magnificence and boundless generosity of God's grace that we respond out of gratitude rather than out of a sense of  duty." (Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace  (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 1991), Page 75)

This is the very thing that should mark the difference between true Christianity and Mormonism. We Christians should have a joy unmatched by any other people. We are recipients of God's amazing grace and all of our service should be done from a heart of love--not a sense of duty or obligation. This has not always been the case with me. But I am repenting and I am going to make it a point to routinely question my motives--especially in the area of my service to God. I'm going to rejoice in God's grace and give up trying to earn God's blessings. Will you join me in learning to live by grace?

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