Heart Tracks - The Real Freedom Of Grace

     Grace is a "hot item" in the church these days.  There are a seeming myriad of books, CD's, and teachings on it.  You'd think with all of that we'd have an evergrowing understanding of what grace is, but, like so many other biblical concepts, I'm not sure that we really know what it is we think we know.  As a friend of mine put it, we need, in many instances to "unknow" that which we believe we know.

     One of the aforementioned books that I looked at was titled "52 Lies Told In Church Every Week."  The author's point was that the church has made following Him much more of a "duty" than a joy.  He said that we've taught people that if we don't daily and weekly pray, read scripture, attend church, and so on, that we're in danger of losing out spiritually, and even falling away from the Lord.  Let me say here that I am no fan of teaching that makes a relationship with Him a duty, or of anything that seeks to pressure people into prayer, reading His Word, and so on, and that makes those things symbols of spiritual maturity and growth.  Any teaching that makes performance the basis of knowing Him is going to leave out grace, and in the end, will place us under the law and the Old Covenant that was in effect before the resurrection of Christ.  We then live and are saved by our works, and not by His grace in Christ.  However, this book and others like it, are running the real danger of leading their readers to feel that prayer, Bible study, being joined with a body of fellow believers, isn't really needful in their walk.  These are good things, but His grace is sufficient, and if these things are missing from a believers life, it isn't going to take God's favor away from them.  My thought on that is that there's a great difference between having God's favor, and really experiencing it.  Grace itself is God's favor freely given, yet how many in the church are really day by day experiencing the fullness of that favor and the joy, peace, and wonder that comes with it?

    So much of the teaching on grace seems to center on what we are free from.  To me, grace is not nearly so much about what we're free from, as to what we're free for, and free to.  We are free to love Him, know Him, grow more deeply in Him.  We are free to be saturated in His presence through prayer, meditating on His word, and discovering what growing in grace is really all about.  We're free to discover that it's not about getting out of dreary church services, and duty bound service, but of discovering and being a part of what His church, His Body is truly all about.  We learn, as Paul wrote, that we're free to be completely His, His slaves.  By grace, we discover what the joy of knowing Him is, and by grace, our hunger for Him grows deeper and wider.  The knowledge gained of Him through prayer, scripture, and the ministry of the church becomes our joy because He's our joy.  We don't drag ourselves to these, we run to them, because we can't wait to again experience the joy and blessing of His grace in all of them.  To me, this is the real freedom of grace.  Is it for you as well?  In Acts 20:32, Paul said, "And now I commend you to God and the message of His grace."  Have we, you and I, really gotten that message?

 

Blessings,

Pastor O