The grace of God - not law or religion - is what motivates us and also enables us to live godly lives. And not only that, but God has given us a brand new nature. This new nature is the essence of who we are. The things that our new nature wants to do are natural expressions of the life of Christ that we've been joined together with.
Some people say that if we remove law, rules, religion, etc, and preach the grace of God, this will cause people to go out and do whatever they want to. Well, in light of all of the above, what do you think? Would this really be a bad thing?? :)
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Joel, I believe grace allows us to do anything we want. It totally removes the dos and the don'ts. However, because we've been given a new heart, EVERYTHING we want to do is holy and righteous. The problem is that a foreign entity called the flesh is also in us and the flesh's desires are contrary to the life of God in us. Our protection is to follow love, not the law.
ReplyDeleteYep I agree, Aida. In this podcast and the next, we talked about what you're saying here. I quoted from Jim Robbins, something he had said in that online test we had done several weeks ago... that we can indulge our new nature. And I also mentioned the the title of one of the chapters of one of Steve McVey's books. The chapter is titled, "We Can Do As We Please."
ReplyDeleteIndeed, our new nature is prone only to do what is holy and righteous. Our flesh works in opposition to this, but as you say, the flesh is a foreign entity. The flesh is not who we are.
Check out Charles Haddon Spurgeon's book ALL IS GRACE......it's right up your alley Joel....and mine.
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