No Commandment Was Harmed
By Jon Walker
For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself. Colossians 2:17 (NLT)
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May you stand accused of believing in God’s grace.
Not a grace, described by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as cheap, so everything can remain as it was before: “It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner.”6
Grace straps us to the law of love, binding us with the Holy Spirit to the life of Christ.
Some may think a focus on grace downgrades the law, but authentic grace upgrades sin. It agrees with God’s assessment that sin is so huge it can only be rendered powerless with a blow of blood and resurrection from the Lord.
Elevating the law above its proper place, suggests Bonhoeffer, “amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.”7
Grace cost Jesus his life, but it places the life of Christ in us, which compels us to give our lives, based on God’s grace, to others. By embracing grace, we accept the responsibility to maintain a close communion with God through the Holy Spirit.
And, if we are led by the Spirit, we’re no longer under law (Galatians 5:18).
That doesn’t mean grace ignores the law. The law is from God, and so “the law is holy . . . righteous and good” (Romans 7:12 NIV). But we’re not the ones who can fulfill the law; that is a job for Jesus: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17 NIV).
To echo Paul, God forbid that we abuse his grace! God doesn’t give us grace so we will continue to sin; he gives us grace so we’re free not to sin. He gives us grace so we can live in relationship with him, no longer in fear of separation as a consequence of our sin.
“So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there?” (Romans 6:1-2 MSG).
Therefore, no commandment was harmed through the deliverance of God’s grace.
If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2009 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.
