Scripture Reading: Romans 6:14
People are always looking for an excuse to sin. If they can somehow justify their sin with Scripture, so much the better --- or so they think. Paul knew that God's super-abounding grace would probably be misused by some to become lax about sin. Therefore, immediately after informing us that we "are not under the law, but under grace," he quickly added, "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid" (Romans 6:14,15).
We should thank God we are not under the law! No longer are we required to bring animal sacrifices as an offering for sin. No more do we live in the bondage of the Mosaic code, which spelled out every detail of life and threatened death for those who slipped. What freedom we have in Christ!
Yet Christian liberty was never designed to give us freedom to sin; rather, it was meant to give us freedom to serve. "For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another" (Galatians 5:13).
Indeed, when we exercise genuine Christian love, we actually fulfill in a practical way that which the Law could never produce; that is, experiential righteousness. "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10). While so many today are trying to live by law, let us who know the grace of God live by grace, and thereby demonstrate to a dying world what the power of God can do in the life of a yielded believer.
THOUGHT FOR THIS WEEK
Our worst days are never so bad
that you are beyond the reach of God's grace.
And your best days are
never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.
-- Jerry Bridges
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