Taking God’s grace and mercy seriously
I have been thinking about this. Which is easier to take more seriously? Is it easier to take sin is bad and there are things that we as Christians should do seriously, or is it easier to take God’s grace and mercy seriously? I don’t think that the answer is as plain as it seems to be at first glace.
We all love to know that we are loved. We all love to know that God’s grace and mercy covers our sins, right? But, even so, I do not think that today’s church in general always takes God’s grace and mercy seriously.
We know what’s wrong, what’s a sin – and we do it anyway. And we beat ourselves up for it. We also know that, as Christians, there are things we should do for good. And we beat ourselves up when we fail to do that, too. All too often, also, the church helps us in beating ourselves up when we do what we shouldn’t and don’t do what we should. But should we not also turn to God’s grace and mercy?
I’m not saying that we should ignore it when we do wrong, or when we neglect to do right. Far from it. I am also not saying we should let sin reign in our churches. What I am saying is that God is full of grace and mercy, and Christ’s blood covers our sins. God doesn’t expect our own blood, and He doesn’t expect us to do blood letting on some poor guy or girl that has been caught in sin. No, the Holy Spirit guides us into all truths, and He convicts us of our sin in a way that is beneficial to draw us back to God. We don’t need to heap guilt upon ourselves or others; indeed, that is counterproductive.
Galatians 5:1 says it is for freedom Christ has set us free. We can only see and enjoy that freedom when we take God’s grace and mercy seriously. If we spend all of our time worried we are going to mess up, then we do not have that freedom. Likewise, Christ said His yoke is easy and His burden is light. But how easy is the yoke or light the burden when we are so weighed down trying to be absolutely perfect?
