06/24/2024
The laws of God are subject to His righteousness and His perfect expectations come from who He is. All of us fall (have fallen) way short of that standard and that is why we are introduced to Grace and Truth.
Grace is the unmerited favor of God bestowed on us. It’s UNMERITED and therefore we are eligible for that favor, only when we first recognize that we are sinners and deserve punishment for our sins. To take it a step further; it is recognizing that ‘every single one of us is the worst of sinners’. If that seems a bit extreme; if the greatest apostle (arguably), Paul referred to himself as “the worst of sinners” towards the end of his life after all his accomplishments were would we stand in comparison to him?
To put it another way’ the sinful nature in all of us is the same whether we act on it or not. Whether they are the worst child offenders or rapists or murderers or those who haven’t committed any of those grievous crimes, all of us are rotten to and in the core. Given the right circumstances we would find ourselves acting on our sinful nature without the power to overcome or resist. For those of us in Christ, it is only by His redeeming work and His cross and His Spirit we are able to live pure and Holy.
In the trial of Adolf Eichmann (the man who single handedly planned and orchestrated the genocide of millions of Jews which was purely evil) as many wept, one of the witnesses who also wept along in the courtroom, later testified that he wasn’t weeping because of the suffering he and others had faced but because he saw an ‘Adolf Eichmann’ in every single human being. Taking into account that the sinful nature in all of us is the same and bringing this thought into the context of this current situation; would it then be wrong to say that ‘there is a child offender’ (as despicable as it may seem and hard to accept) in each one of us? Regardless of whether we say yes or no, the point is this; 0ne’s sinful nature is not better than the other’s. If people are not acting on their sinful desires or some desires aren’t expressed in them, it is because of some element of the goodness from God that still lingers in non- believers or because of the Spirit’s power, who indwells believers.
Now, this does not mean our choices are irrelevant. Our responses are important and actually determine whether we are going to receive God’s Grace (strength) to walk right in a situation or not. However, it must be understood, that we were all miserable sinners, helpless to save ourselves. God extended His forgiveness and grace through His Son in spite of that. When we responded, He JUSTIFIED us, and we need to continually respond to His teaching (guiding), saving and empowering grace. The focus is not on us or our choices even though they are relevant but on Him and His grace for without it we would have been consumed long ago and without it we would never have been wooed to do the right thing in any situation and without it we would never have had the strength to live right.
The Word says that in the end people will be cast into the lake of fire whether they have lived a relatively good life or not! In rejecting Christ and in that moment the sinful nature will take over each one of them (if not already) as they become purely evil, and they will experience the just judgement of God for that, which is the lake of fire for one and all. Now, for those who have yielded to righteousness in this life in Christ; they would become completely pure and Holy and experience the joys of salvation for all of eternity. This passage is to reemphasize again that man in his sinful state without Christ or His Spirit is pure evil!
The reason for this detailed explanation is because unless we as the body of Christ are in this place of understanding we will never be able to judge properly or righteously as God wants in situations like this. If we have kept ourselves from sin and its deceits; we are who we are, purely and only by the Grace and Mercies of God! Sadly, today many seem to assume superiority when judging and seem to have many harsh words to say. Could it be because they don’t come from this place of understanding? If we have this perspective, we have humility and that is what enables us to see clearly and judge righteously in a situation. If at any point, in our lives we assume ourselves as better than others apart from the Grace and Mercies of God; we are not in Grace or have fallen from it!
Galatians 6:1 – Brethren, if any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also (AMP).
Now having said all of that Grace operates with truth only and cannot be separated from it l (as mentioned in the Word), We will look into it in the next article.
