Other ways to Grace, Second Part

If I select not to chance, if I’m going the “safe” route and identify not to plug either deliverance by grace or a way of living of grace, what are the alternatives? 4 points come to my mind, all of which are favored nowadays.

I shared 2 points with you yesterday and will share 2 points today. Everything is either black or white, wrong or right.

And as a consequence, the leader maintains stern control of the proponents. Fellowship is reliant on whether there’s full agreement. We first check out where folks stand on the difficulties, and then we decide whether we intend to spend a lot time with them.

The final analysis is this : we wish to be right ( as we see it, naturally ) more than we would like to love our neighbours as ourselves. At that point our personal choices eclipse any proof of love. I’m of the firm conviction that where grace exists, so must varied areas of grey.

I’m able to cultivate a judgmental perspective toward those that may not agree or cooperate with my plan. It is maybe the most un-Christlike characteristic in evangelical circles today.

A quick peek back thru the time tunnel will prove advantageous. Jesus found Himself standing before the brain trust of legalism, the Pharisees. Listening to Him were also many that assumed in Him. He’d been presenting His message to the bunch ; it had been a message of deliverance, of forgiveness, of liberty. “As He spoke these things, many began to believe in Him. So Jesus was announcing to those Jews who had thought Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you’re actually followers of Mine ; and you’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free’ “( John 8:30–32 ).

He spoke of the liberating power of the truth. Free from the damnable impulses I could not stop when I was in bondage to sin. Free from the tyranny of others’ views, expectancies, demands. Free to permit others to be who they are—different from me. Free to live outside the constraints of human effort. In definite terms, Jesus Christ guaranteed his very own that His truth was ready to liberate them from each needless limitation : “So if the Child makes you free, you’ll be free indeed” ( John 8:36 ).