I have been reflecting recently on the beauty of God’s grace. I think at times we use the phrase “by God’s grace” so often that we minimize the power of grace. Too often people find themselves straddling a fence between works and grace. I have been living a parable of that struggle recently that has defined the power of grace so much for me.
Jesus, by HIS grace, (HIS power intervening in man’s situation) has healed me of cancer. I have a CAT to acknowledge it and a word from God stating it and HIS holy Word declaring it from the ages. As I have walked from the day of surgery I have been given an education as to what things I should eat and not eat in order to remain cancer free. It seems there are certain foods that generate an energy that cancer cells feed on and that ignite cancer cells to form and grow. In the parable I am living I received my healing by the grace of God. But I am tied to maintaining that condition by rules of nutrition and health principles.
Each day there is regiment for me to follow closely. Each step must be done in order to maintain the highest functioning immune system possible. As I go through my paces each day I am reminded of the bondage of keeping the law in order to obtain right standing with God. My regiment is a heavy burden. True it may not always be but in my efforts to rearrange my life to accommodate the regiment I daily feel the weight of the rules. This feeling is similar to the weight of trying to gain God’s pleasure through works.
God always knew man could not keep the law. There is no way we could perform every requirement with perfection. The weight of having to get everything right every day was too much to bear. So in truth the law was never meant to be a tool of righteousness but rather a tool to show us how much we need a Savior.
I used to marvel at the Galatians. Remember those guys, the ones Paul said were foolish because they had believed on Christ for salvation but were still trying to obey the requirements of the law. I say I used to marvel because one day I realized that many of us are often in the same situation. Not that we get out the Ten Commandments and go through them to make sure we have not broken any of them that day. But rather too often acting as if our place in the heart of God was secured by us doing everything exactly right.
I am not advocating bad behavior. Quite to the contrary I believe the more we receive of the grace of God the more we desire to imitate HIM in our behavior. But I am speaking to our tendency to draw back from HIS presence when we have done less than our best in emulating HIM. Letting our enemy make us feel we are not worthy to draw near HIM because we have not perfectly executed each example in the law of works.
I don’t want Paul or anyone else to call me foolish because I could not grasp the power of grace. I want to fall headlong into the arms of AMAZING GRACE (Jesus) and tell HIM that I trust in HIM and HIM alone for my salvation and also for the peace that pervades my life. None of it because of anything I can do but all because of what HE has done.