Grace, the Great Accelerator

Growing up, I often heard "Thank goodness we aren't under the Law!" That made sense to me. I didn't like the rules, and I REALLY didn't like the punishments for breaking them. But now that I understand grace a little more, I'm not as sure. Grace demands much. Don't get me wrong. Grace is wonderful and I really would not want to be under the Law. Also... for those who are thinking that grace was always present - even under the Law - I concur. But for the sake of differentiation, I'll refer to the time before Jesus' sacrifice as the 'Law' and the time since then as 'Grace'.

Under the Law, a man was forbidden to commit adultery. He was not, however, prevented from 'mall-watching'. You know.. sitting at the mall and watching all the fine ladies walk by. As a kid... I really liked that, to be honest. It was harmless, right? Yes, under the Law. But not so much under Grace.

See, there was no higher standard to meet under the Law. No touch, no foul. Except that's really not so. God was unable to instill a 'perfecting' into His people under that system. The result? Those poor mall-watching Israelites in their Sinai camp spent 40 years just reaching their Promised Land (13 miles away). Nor did they learn how to worship with fervor until King David, hundreds of years later! Progress is slow when all you do is meet requirements (just examine your latest job performance review).

Grace is an accelerator. It prods us to "be perfect, even as our Father in Heaven is perfect." (Matt 5:48) As we are perfected, we are entrusted. We are moved to greater heights of stewardship and responsibility in the Kingdom. Have you reached 'perfect' yet? Me either! But that's the beauty of grace! Failure doesn't disqualify us from pressing on! Perfection is a process... not simply a state of being.