DABBLING IN GRACE

Remember the "Patty Duke Show"? It was a long time ago. It aired sometime in the 1960's I believe. It had a spunky little theme song. Somehow that theme song reminds me of our modern era handling of grace. The theme song goes like this:

Meet Cathy, who's lived most everywhere,
From Zanzibar to Barclay Square.
But Patty's only seen the sight.
A girl can see from Brooklyn Heights ...
What a crazy pair!

But they're cousins,
Identical cousins all the way.
One pair of matching bookends,
Different as night and day.

Where Cathy adores a minuet,
The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette,
Our Patty loves to rock and roll,
A hot dog makes her lose control ...
What a wild duet!

Still, they're cousins,
Identical cousins and you'll find,
They laugh alike, they walk alike,
At times they even talk alike ...

You can lose your mind,
When cousins are two of a kind.

Lyrics By: "Robert Wells"

I'm sure you are wondering why this song reminds me of how we deal with grace. Well, just imagine Patty and Cathy representing the Law and Grace. Now, Cathy wasn't bad, but Patty had many more experiences and she was quite a character! For many, Patty was preferred--that's why it was called the Patty Duke Show, and not the Cathy Duke Show. Now, there were a lot of things about them that were "alike" in appearance, but still they were different--"two of a kind". The Law and Grace are, too.

The Law (like Cathy) was acceptable, until Grace came. When something "better" was presented to us, we no longer had a need for the Law. The thing is, we basically utilize the gift of grace for salvation and upon receiving that precious gift, we (most of us, at least) become immediately entangled in a yoke of bondage, throughout our walk with Christ--only dabbling in grace. We live by lists (some spoken, many simply understood boundaries that must not be crossed) of rules and regulations that keep us in line, rather than allowing grace to mold us into to image of God. Those rules deplete us of our individuality, creativity and drive. They breed uniformity rather than unity.

Grace was given to us to free us from the rehearsal of thousands of laws, ceremonies and rituals; yet, we look for new ones to add as if we cannot survive without them. There is no relationship in serving God out of fear, prompted by rules and regulations. God wants our hearts. He changed the law--and we missed it. He revised the commandments--made them compact and simple, so that no one has to fail. He knew that the many laws previously given (by Him) didn't keep man from sin (but only made him aware of what was sinful), so He gave us a new one--with power to keep us from sin, if we choose. This law doesn't only make man aware of of sin and its wages, but it will keep him from sin, if he will only submit to it. That is how grace works--the Law could not do that.

We spend a lot of time talking about grace, but our lives are marred by the Law. The Law isn't evil--but its time has come and gone, so for us to continue to live under the Law, when God has given us grace, is deadly. Is grace an opportunity for lascivious living? God forbid! Grace is the answer to righteousness. It is only by grace that man is able to live a godly, righteous life in a sinful world--and not in and of himself, but by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Ghost. Under grace, a new law has been enacted. It is the Law of LOVE. Love blocks sin like nothing else! Love is the only sin-killer. Want to live victoriously--learn how to love. That is why the Bible tells us, "Love covers a multitude of sins".

The new law goes like this: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all of thy heart, and all of thy soul and all of thy mind."
The second part of the new law is: "Love your neighbor as thyself." Grasp that. Every law that had been given prior is summed up in this law. We don't need any other rules and regulations to live by. That's what Jesus said. We keep coming up with them--what to wear, how to act, what to do, etc. According to the Word of God, all of this is taken care of in this. If we will allow the Holy Ghost to work in God's people, they will grow and learn all of these things. We don't give the Holy Ghost a chance to do His job, and we make a mess, and set up our own rules--based on our preferences and ideas, and end up with divisions and debates over rules that men have set up. 

We have been gifted a "better" way through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ--that way (or second chance, for us) cost Him dearly! It would be our most perfect praise to accept that gift, and walk according to it. Anything less is "filthy rags" in God's sight.

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