Several months ago I felt a personal challenge to dig deeper into law and grace. I've spent most of my free time reading. I've been reading through the New Testament portions that describe Jesus' life. I've also been reading several different books on the subject, picking them up alternately.
When I set out to learn about law and grace, I had no idea the journey God would take me on. All I knew at the time was that my experience with God was different from anything I'd ever been taught, and I wanted to find out why. I started asking questions. A need to know permeated my being. And with each bit of information, the need intensified. More, God...tell me more.
When I asked God to reveal truth to me, I wasn't quite prepared for what He'd show me. He began to reveal to me the understanding of Scriptures that I'd long questioned because they seemed contradictory to one another. What I found was that most of what I believed was a mixture of law and grace, which skewed my understanding of Scripture.
The most amazing thing I've learned is when reading the Bible, read it in the context of two divisions:
Old Covenant
New Covenant
When I began to put Scripture into context of these divisions, the purposes of law and grace began to finally make sense to me. And freedom began to rush in. I finally began to grasp that God sees Jesus in me, and me in Him. He sees righteousness when He looks at me. All my sins (past, present and future) have been forgiven. God's love for me doesn't depend on my beahvior...at all! If it did, that would be mixing the Old Covenant with the New. But the Old Covenant was put to death on the cross. Living under the New Covenant allows me to live in freedom, glorifying God, instead of living in a sin management program.
This truth has completely changed me. I am a different person. My understanding of Scripture is radically different. My concept of God has been aligned with His Word. My opinions and beliefs have been shifted.
And, honestly, I've been a little afraid to talk about it because it's so radically different from what most Christians I know believe. I've felt that if I discussed my questions, people would label me as on the verge of heresy. Maybe they will. But for the person in bondage, searching for freedom, I hope to encourage you to dig deeper. Ask questions. Keep searching!
My husband uses the illutration often of an old oak tree. Without Christ in our lives, God sees us as an old oak tree in the depths of winter; naked, with every broken limb, knotted trunk, woodpecker hole, and growing fungus exposed. BUT, when we accept Jesus, His robe of righteousness covers us completely, like the beautiful blanket of fresh green leaves that cover the tree in spring. God looks at us and only sees Jesus and his perfection. That is not to say that the knots and broken limbs are not still there, we will always make mistakes and cause blimishes to occur, but as long as we stay conected to the Vine, the flow of Living Water runs thru us and provides an awesome covering... THAT IS GRACE!
ReplyDeleteI have found SO much freedom in the things that I have learned about grace and mercy in the context of the old and new covenants over the past year. And you're right, it DOES change you. Now that so much has been revealed to me, I don't know how I ever made sense of the gospel before. Mainly I was confused, never being able to reconcile the God of the Old Testament to the God of the New. My question now is: Why did I never hear about these things in church?
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