We have such freedom and adventure in God’s Grace. We are safe with grace even though it is unpredictable. Jesus seemed unpredictable to those around Him but He was just living out of obedience to His Father’s directions. If you read the gospels carefully, you will see that His unpredictable behavior drove the Pharisees crazy!
Grace allows “out of the box” living. If you are like me and you have spent the majority of your life up until this point living from a law based mentality, grace may seem a little scary. In reality, we have nothing to fear as I John 4 reminds us that perfect love drives out all fear. So with grace it might seem a bit “risky” if you know what I mean. Living by the law was so “cut and dried”. Dry….now there is a good word for it. Grace is alive, organic and relational.
Was the law bad? No way! It accomplished it’s purpose in revealing my sin and my need for a Savior. I realized very quickly that I could not keep the letter of the law 24/7 so I needed what Christ provided on the cross. I needed life, forgiveness, peace and relationship! Christ on the cross was grace providing all that I needed. Now, I walk in, abide in, make myself at home in His wonderful, matchless grace!
Through this grace, I can give up my performance based behaving and trying to be perfect. I have a net below to catch me if I fail. That net is called Grace. Let me share with you an illustration that I found rather enlightening from Juan Carlos Ortiz. I read this in the book entitled “Rest Assured” by Bill Ewing. Mr. Ortiz once recalled a circus attendee who had the privilege of talking to a performer after a show. He commented on how the net saved the trapeze artists’ life. The performer looked a bit humored. Still struck with awe the guest exclaimed, “That net saved your life!” In broken English, the artist expressed that this was indeed true, but then tried to explain the net’s further purpose. “Yes, the net saves us,” he said in a heavy French accent, “but its most important purpose is to allow us to get better. With it stretching below we can try and fail without fear, becoming the very best we could ever be.”
Wow! God’s grace allows us to try and fail without fear while we stretch and grow. Now there is a new spin on failure! With this point of view there is no reason to fear failure. Again, as I said in a previous blog – for us a Christians, there is room for failure and when we do, it is a forward motion – a failing forward as I call it. This is how we learn and grow and become all that God has planned for us to be (Eph. 2:10).
Galatians 2:19-20 The Message – “What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me.”
May you grow more and more in the GRACE and KNOWLEDGE of our Lord Jesus Christ – our Abba Father – our Daddy – our Papa!
Dana