Under Law OR Under Grace

I've been in Galations for my quiet time lately.  I was struck by an interesting thought.  You have to choose - will you be under the Law OR under Grace?  You can't be both.  This may seem like old hat to some of you, but revisit it if that is the case.  Let me explain.

It's interesting that you can read something in the Bible and it is like it is the first time you have seen that!  (Heb 4:12 "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.")  Thank you LORD for your abiding word that opens our eyes to see in new and different ways!

Paul talks about the prepatory nature of the Law.  It was given to show us the way to the Truth.  Truth of how to act, how to think, how to worship, how to give, how to serve, how to love.  God's design is to have the Law written on our hearts - internalized - not a set of rules, but a way or thought and life. (Jer 31:33 "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.")  As spiritual children, the Law was our tutor - pointing us in the correct direction. 

Paul talks about our liberty.  (Free will - ever heard of that?)  Have you ever really realized that you have absolute liberty in Christ?  Liberty to be what God created you to be!  Liberty to live differently in the world!  Liberty to NOT sin!  Liberty to forgive yourself when you fail!  Liberty to get up and try again, and again, and again!  But he also warns that liberty came with a great cost.  Praise to Jesus for paying that cost at Calvary!

So, if we choose Grace, we are no longer under Law.  What!  Blasphemy? Heresy?  No - Truth.  Look at Gal 3: 10-14 and Gal 5: 1 - 6.  If you live by Law you are cursed, because you can't fulfill the Law.  It doesn't matter how good you are, how much to do, how much you give - you still fall short.  (I think I've heard that before. Rom 3:23)  Christ came to fulfull - complete - pay full penalty (propitiation) under the Law.  Now you have Grace!  The ability to actually have the Law written on your heart.  The ability to have that new nature which is not under compulsion to abide by the law, but under heartfelt desire to live righteously - because it is natural! 

Every time you go back to trying to obey the rules, you step out from under Grace and back under Law.  Confusing?  You bet!  OK, lets boil it down - are you controled by the flesh or the Spirit?  Now I know how a yo-yo feels, right?  Christ tells us to stop trying to obey the law and allow Him, by the Holy Spirit, to change our nature so that how we act is a product of who we have become.  You know, you obey the law without even thinking or realizing it, it's just who you are. 

Look at your life.  What do you see, no I mean really, in your heart of hearts.

Are any of these the fruit of your efforts - immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmites, strife, jeolousy, outbursts of anger, dusputes, dissensions, factions, envyings, drunkenness, carousings?  These are the fruit of the flesh.  This is the result of our old nature trying to live under Law.

Are any of these the fruit of your efforts - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  These are the fruit of the Spirit.  This is the result of our new nature living under Grace.

Remember the part about having liberty to forgive yourself and try again.  Steve Brown from Key Life says something like this - I'm better than I was yesterday, by the Grace of God.  Can you say that? 

So, this week, as you drive, as you work, as you interact, as you live, look inside and out.  What fruit are you seeing in yourself and those around you.  My prayer is that you (and God) like what you see.  If not, are you willing to do something about it?