Abusing Grace

Handing out grace is tricky business. When I use it in my parenting I run the risk of my children taking my grace and running, without a changed heart. But do I stop offering grace? No. Because true grace will transform a person’s heart.

It’s the same with God and sinners. You know the kind. The ones who party all week and go to church to ask for forgiveness with the full intention of living a life of sin the very next day. Is that what God wants? Is that what He expects when he offers grace?

Of course not!

Dwight Edwards explains that is the flesh’s response to grace, and even Paul anticipated that reaction from followers of Christ. Romans 6:1-2 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” So why not? Let’s see what Paul says.

We died to sin! We’re not who we used to be so we shouldn’t live like we did. Notice, Paul doesn’t say if you continue to live in sin you’ll lose your salvation. But even the most devout Christian sins, what then? We’re already cleansed by Christ’s blood, and our sin doesn’t cancel our relationship with God or Jesus’ love for us. It does affect our intimacy with God, though.

“Our new purity through Christ’s blood ensures God’s everlasting acceptance, while confession of known sins ensures His present communion with our souls.”

Lightbulb moment! I’ve often wondered why God seemed so far away at times in my life. Could it be because I had unrepeated sin? It’s so easy to forget that though we are forgiven and covered by the blood, we still need to ask for forgiveness. Personally, for me it makes me own my behavior and helps me realize I truly can’t change on my own. I need Christ’s help!

Grace is amazing, but it can also be dangerous in the hands of someone who doesn’t care to understand it’s true purpose.

Dwight says, “grace can sometimes be abused, and such abuse is terrible and tragic…but the cure is never to control grace through restrictions and qualifications. If grace doesn’t have the potential to be abused, it won’t have the power to transform. For grace to move powerfully in our lives it must remain unbridled and unrestricted from our well-intentioned safeguards.

So how do we receive God’s grace? That’s a whole post in its own.

For more posts in the series Experiencing Christ Within, visit Portrait of Faith.