Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 8
He challenges the modern slogan (via the Casting Crowns lyric) “I’m trying so hard to stop trying so hard,” calling it “a lie from Satan,” and insists Scripture calls for chosen acts of obedience; what assumptions about grace, effort, and “letting God do it” are being confronted here, and how do you evaluate them in light of Paul’s commands to “put away,” “be kind,” “forgive,” and “walk in love”?
Another way to ask: What ideas about grace and effort are being challenged when the speaker says we must choose obedience, and how do you judge that based on Paul’s commands to put things away, be kind, forgive, and walk in love?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The speaker confronts the assumption that real change happens mainly by quitting effort and waiting for God to act without our choices; he argues grace includes God’s love and forgiveness that motivate us, but Scripture still commands intentional action—“put away,” “be,” “forgive,” and “walk.”
- He quotes the lyric and summarizes its message: “quit trying to obey and just let God’s love fill you… change you from the inside out.”
- He directly calls that idea false: “Well, the scriptures don’t tell us that. That’s a lie from Satan.”
- He stresses agency: “the way to begin to be an imitator of God is to choose acts of obedience… This is something that we do.”
- Paul’s verbs are active, and the speaker emphasizes them: “put away… be kind… forgiving… walk in love,” showing effortful obedience is expected.
- He also protects grace-based motivation: obedience is meant to flow from believing God is kind and forgiving—otherwise it becomes “miserable.”
- He rejects another extreme: it’s not better to stop obeying just because motives aren’t perfect; God wants cheerful obedience, but “it’s never better to just not obey.”