What shall I do?

Most of us 'grace people' will willingly talk about God's grace all day long, but it never ceases to amaze me how quickly we go back to a law (works) based mentality.  How often do we revert back to trying to relate to God through the law once we have been saved by grace?  It's an interesting, but not new, question (I'll come to that in a minute). 

Take healing for example, I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say (and have previously said myself to be fair)...
"I've read healing scriptures; I've prayed: I've fasted - What more do I need to do to be healed!".   
Immediately relating to God on the basis of law/works - which of my works will get me healed?

As I said, it's not a new problem: Paul told the Galatians :

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:" Galatians 1:6 (KJV)

and he goes on a bit later saying

"Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"
Galatians:" 3:3 (KJV)

The trouble is, if I look to be healed by the law (works) then I must fulfill the law in order to qualify! Every last jot of it.  It has to ALL be kept otherwise you are disqualified from any of the blessings that come with keeping it (Deut 28 for example).  And not just the letter of the law, but the intent of the heart- Jesus said if you've looked at person lustfully, you've as good as committed adultery)

Thankfully the beauty of God's grace is not simply that it is underserved or unmerited favour, but it is the power of God to live the Christian life.   

The dictionary defines the English word CHARISMA as a divinely conferred power or talent.  The word Charisma comes from the root word CHARIS which is the Greek word in the Bible translated as grace.   We can say that Grace isn't just God's unmerited favour but it is also his divinely conferred power in our lives.   This is really important because that power then allows us to become more and more like Jesus.

God's grace means we don't have to work to see the promises of God flow into our lives.  That is why we can truly call it AMAZING grace.

Many people who do not grasp both sides of grace accuse others of just taking licence to live sinfully.  But is that true? No! Of course not.  Even Paul encountered this type of comment and he said 

Romans 6:1 (KJV) 
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

It's just silliness to draw that conclusion.  Paul himself understood grace - just read the whole of Romans - his great exposé on grace! Paul was not a man that tended towards sin!   A true understanding of God's grace will not encourage you to sin, but will equip you to live worthy of your calling in Christ.  

There is no middle ground where grace is concerned.  Either it's all grace or all law! Humans like to grade sin on a curve, but the Bible teaches that if you fail to keep the whole law; that is you miss ONE LITTEL POINT then under the law you are cursed! 

Why would you want to put yourself back under a curse?  No!  That's not for me!  I praise God that we are redeemed from the cures of the law (the curse is having to keep all those rules in thought, word and deed, which is both exhausting and impossible!) - Galatians 3:13 - and give him all my gratitude that because of his grace I am fully enabled to live free from the law.  Because I am under grace I am already made holy and righteous and am blessed under God's promises without having to use my own self effort to earn a thing.

From this position, I will not start to sin more (why would I want to do dumb stuff that only leads to rubbish consequences in my life?), instead the result of understanding grace will be a life lived God's way, not because I am trying to keep a bunch of rules, but because my heart will be filled with gratitude for his amazing grace and that will lead me to live life like Jesus did, enjoying his love and sharing that with those around me.    


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