Grace Abuse?..is That Possible??

Grace abuse...Is that Possible??

Illus. From K. Edward Skidmore

In a book called The Grace Awakening, Chuck Swindoll tells about a Missionary family who left their Work because of Condemnation from other Missionaries. What was the theological disagreement over? Peanut butter.

You see, the Mission field where they went did not have access to Peanut Butter. So, that particular family arranged for a friend to send them Peanut Butter from the States every now and then. The problem was that the other Missionaries considered it a mark of their true spirituality that they did without Peanut Butter. They explained, “We believe that since peanut butter is not available here, we should give it up for the cause of Christ.”

Well, the new family disagreed. And the end result was that they were pushed out of that mission.

Of course a part of me thinks that if there’s anything worth fighting over, it’s probably Peanut Butter! But a more mature part of me agrees with Swindoll who concluded, “What we have here is a modern-day example of a group of squint-eyed legalists spying out and attacking another’s liberty. Not even missionaries are exempt.”

Americans probably more than anybody else in the entire world celebrate liberty

Each and every day… Without question as to why we have it and where it came

from Without question…

Our liberty stems from the fact that God was involved in the creation of this country, our Constitution

and everything else for that matter in our lives and we received all those things because of Grace...

People are quick to tell you what to do, how to do it and when to do it in society and more and more...were told what to think and what's correct to say..

And when political correctness is challenged with commonsense...intolerance raises its ugly head and the digging into one's past begins and the assault of ones character, until there seems to be a scandal and then a fall from grace...

We see it with CEOs, political candidates and a myriad of men and women once held in high esteem...who made a mistake and somehow where labeled as fallen from grace.

It happens on the worldwide stage… It happens on the local front as well

And usually almost always the same response comes from the ridiculing

and the digging..."and they call themselves a Christian"

The accuser persuades society to forget all the good things someone has done

and convinces them to believe one mistake is their ruination...once they've fallen from grace that's it..it's over

Romans 5:20 NKJ

20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more

The Msg. Says it this way...

20-21 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

When sin creeps in and rears its ugly head as it always does...

Grace is always there to confront it head on!

When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

God in his infinite wisdom… Knows the human nature better

Than we know it ourselves and created a safety net called...

Grace...and its for whosoever, it's for all

You can't fall from grace… You fall into Grace and you run in to Grace

Grace is everywhere you are..before you even get there..

TBS. where sin abounded, grace abounded much more

The accuser knows that he has a death sentence and his objective

is to somehow take everyone else right along with him...

John 10:9-10 NKJ

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Steal, kill and destroy and to that I would add...condemn, condemn, condemn...

Romans 8:1-2 NKJ

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.