The False Choice
You may have heard the phrase, “…under grace, not under the law.” It sounds like the Law is being disrespected, but the Bible says that the law is GOOD! We need the lessons of the law. By it we know such things as the blessings of rest and the importance of work. We make decisions daily between charity and justice, and teaching each-other by word or by example. Wisdom for managing our lives is found throughout God’s Law, or “teachings.”
Consider the two ways of Psalm 1.
One man delights in the law of The LORD and is made a happy, healthy tree that doesn’t lose it’s life to bugs and disease. This man is like a tree that has been planted by streams of water. There must be a caretaker assuring him of a fruitful life!
Others who ignore these laws of life are guaranteed pitfalls and dead-ends again and again, as they charge blindly through life. Addictions, treachery, loneliness, and strife await…and high blood pressure.
The Apostle Paul was an expert in the law, but God showed him the serious need for Grace. Read Romans 7:14-25. Paul loved the law of God; but, being honest, he had to admit that he simply could not do what he really wanted to do. Neither could he resist sins that he hated! EXCEPT, by the deliverance that Christ gave him. It is the GRACE of God that allows us to live a life of genuine love for God and our neighbor! (The Sh-mÁ Deut.6:4 and Leviticus 19:18) Do you want to be productive in goals with eternal significance? Don’t you want to pass those blessings on to your kids?
‘GRACE’ is not all about salvation! In fact when you think about salvation and the work of God’s grace in your life; understand that grace is needed for BOTH, but you are talking about 2 separate things. Jesus Christ was questioned often about how to inherit eternal life. In Matthew 19:16 a rich young leader who followed the law, recognized the full and fruitful life of Jesus, and asked him, “What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” (Keep in mind that this, “eternal life” means a full, rich life that has eternal significance)
Another time, the same question came from the ‘Lawyers’ who wanted to ‘test’ Jesus using the same word as when the devil ‘tempted’ him in the wilderness! And Jesus Answer to both of them?
He referred both to the Sh-mÁ, the law! They both asked what God looked for in a man’s life, and that’s exactly what Jesus was showing them. The understanding God gave the Jewish nation of eternal life is not just longevity and eternity. It is about a full, meaningful, peaceful and contented life,… forever! Who wants to live a miserable, meaningless, selfish and sick life… Forever!?
We are all pilgrims adventuring though life, and the law of God is truly a light unto our path and a lamp unto our feet, (Psalm 119:105) but it is only by the gracious deliverance of Christ that we receive forgiveness for our offenses and become like His trees planted by rivers of LIFE!
