Galatians 2:16 – nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Christ Jesus
Ephesians 2: 8,9 — For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works so that no one may boast.
We christians usually focus on pleasing God and living for Him by trying to obey the ten commandments and trying to do the right things.
We will go to church every time the doors are open, tithe our 10 percent, we will not smoke, drink, dance, go to movies, we will look down and condemn those who do not do what we feel the Bible commands. We feel guilty every time we mess up and think God is going punish us if we do not do everything we think is right to do as christians.
The truth is because of grace we do not have to be trying to keep the law at all. We do not have to try to do good works to earn our favor with God.
What happened to grace? What happened to being saved through faith in Christ and Him alone. Not Jesus and baptism, not Jesus and good works, not Jesus and avoiding certain things. We are saved through faith in Christ and we no longer have to do any of these things to be a child of God. We have freedom in Christ that was bought and paid for with the death and resurrection of Jesus.
This freedom does not mean we just live our lives doing whatever we want. There are consequences in this world for doing things that are not good for us. As it says in 1 Corinthians 10, “all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor”.
We have freedom from the Law because of the grace of God. We do things out of love, love for God and love for others. It is no longer out of obligation or trying to follow any law.
Stop putting your faith in trying to follow all the rules and regulations of the old covenant law. Stop forcing the law on others thinking that will make them better people. Jesus fulfilled the old agreement and began a new agreement, an agreement of love and grace.
We no longer strive to please God through the law, but we do what pleases him because of love.
Love is the fulfilling of the law and the love of Christ is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
We cannot please God in the flesh for the carnal nature is at enmity with God.
The law is spiritual.
The children of God are led by the Spirit of God.
Romans 8
Let us by and through the grace and love of God keep in step with the Holy Spirit.
Glorify Your name, Lord!
Shalom!
Thanks for the reminder, it’s only by the grace of God the we can overcome.
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Thanks for the comment. Good points.
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You can’t say this strongly enough for we need to be re-educated in the ways of grace. Everything we are taught comes by the law whether we christian or not, so the grace message runs counter to the way we have been taught to think. I find it is a hard lesson to learn, just to let go and let Jesus and the Holy Spirit minister by grace, but it is a lesson that I must learn. That we all must learn. Too much the church focuses on “being obedient” and the obedience is claimed to be the key to open doors. But that is not true really. It is through faith and trust and love by grace that doors open. Obedience is simply out of a heart of love by grace and comes as a result of grace. Can we err by grace? I don’t think so, but I would love to be so far into grace that I was erring by grace! Wow!
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You are so right jem, we have been taught such a mixed message of law and grace. So glad the eyes of many are being opened to the message of grace. Thanks for the comment.
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