While reading status updates on Facebook we came across someone asking a question, and it got us to thinking. The person wanted to know if they should stop doing something that wasn't wrong, but their husband didn't like it. Oh, the comments were diverse, but the majority said it didn't matter what the husband thought--it wasn't a wrong thing to do. We do understand than a husband does not need to dictate every choice his wife makes, but I wonder why it's too hard just to lay our opinions aside for our spouse. There are going to be enough things our spouse will not like that we may even do unknowingly. Why waste it on something as trivial as what shoes you should wear with a particular outfit? This whole status update got us to thinking about the grace of God. I know, right? We can be so random. We often need God's grace but WHY do we insist on needing His grace for the things that we are already know?
Grace is like a running faucet with God, and though the water could continue running forever; we should still be using it wisely. We really do believe we can waste it if we are not careful. While God's grace will never run out, we should not try to use more than we need. And, since we know we will always need the grace of God why waste it on something that we already know would displease the Father.
When thinking about the Bible we know that Paul was very aware of God's grace. His name was originally Saul, and he persecuted the first Christians, putting them to death. But God saved Saul from his sins, changed his name to Paul, and set his life on a new path. Paul was appreciative that God applied His grace to him, giving him a major second chance; Paul was determined not to waste it. Paul knew of God's grace: the more sin that is present, the more grace that is needed to cover it.
But in Romans 6, Paul warns about abusing this grace. Just because we can freely apply God's grace to our lives, doesn't mean we should continue on with our lives in the same sinful manner. Paul instructs us to change our ways, so we don't end up wasting God's grace. His point is: if you know better, then you should live better, regardless of grace.
He goes on further to say that we died to our sinful nature. Once we become Christians, we allow our sin to die on the cross with Jesus, so that we may be alive with His resurrection. We are instructed to not allow that old sin back into our lives again, verse 12, "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires." This instruction is given to us AFTER we have applied God's grace to our lives, not before it. It is a warning to live our lives, not to continually abuse the grace because it is there, but to, (verse 13) "offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness." The grace is not given so you may keep on sinning, the grace is given so that, (verse 14) "sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."
Grace is not given to us to just use whenever we need it; it's not meant to justify our sins and just cover them whenever needed. This is backwards. The grace is given so that the sinful nature may not be an excuse or to blame for living our lives against God's Word. By applying grace to our lives, (verse 22) "you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."
The next time we are presented with the opportunity to sin, we are going to think about what we might be doing with God's grace. Should we deliberately continue to indulge in that sin? Are we abusing God's intended grace and becoming a slave to that sin and not God? We should not continue sinning, thinking we can simply apply God's grace. We need to remember that we are no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. While grace is free and unlimited, it is not a crutch to continually being an immature Christian. If we are living our lives and wasting grace, then we truly do not understand why God gave us His grace.
Josh and Serena
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