Okay – time to get back with it. If I not only relate to God on the basis of the life and death of Christ (and not on the basis of my behavior)…and God also relates to me on the basis of the life and death of Christ (and not my behavior) – this means that I am set free from attempting to please Him by my obedience. He looks at me through the life and death of Jesus and is already pleased. There is nothing I can do to make Him love me more than he already loves me in Christ Jesus. And there is nothing I can do to make Him love me less. Might this mean that the motive or the purpose behind my obedience is not pleasing God? This could prove revolutionary to me.
Let me say all this another way. God does not love me more when I resist sin, He does not love me less when I give in. If He loves me less, I am under law and not grace. Does this give me permission to sin? Absolutely not. Grace will never inflame the heart of the saint to sin. Our new redeemed heart does not want to sin, and so being out from under the law and in the freedom of grace does not create a desire in our heart to run wild and sin.
So then – what about obedience? What is it’s place? What is its role? How should I think about it? Check the next blog, Wednesday, October 20.
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