You Lied to Me! (Grace is the Truth)

We have to be staunch about the truth of God's grace.

There is no room for error, for fraud, for deceit, or distortion.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (John 8: 31-32)

The severity of the truth is so important, that Jude, in the last epistle before Revelation, did not reserve his concern:

"3Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 3-4)

The grace of God teaches us to say "No!" to sin and "Yes!" to godliness, first of all (Titus 2: 11-14)

We have to  understand that the Grace of God is not a one-time shot, but something which we receive and keep receiving (Romans 5: 17)

We do not go from grace to the law, which the Galatians tried to do.

Nor is grace a license to sin, because sin brings for the death, and the grace of God is granted to us that we may have life -- His life!

I have had such a transformation of peace and relaxation in my head.

For the longest time, a sense of shame was so prevalent in my life. No matter what I did or did not do, I was assaulted by a sense of shame and hurt.

The worst art about much of this, though, was the sense that I had to do something, anything, that I had to keep the bad thoughts at bay as much as possible.

Today, I understand the truth of the Gospel, and that the problem for the longest time has been precisely this obsessive sense that I have to do something. Instead of reviewing the hurt and upset from times now long gone, or agitating over the feelings and trying to fix or medicate them, I realize that every demand has been met in Christ Jesus.

There is no waffling this. We cannot add one thing to what He did.

Yet for many years, I was taught to do exactly that. My father put up a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall in our house. My mother was a Stepper Mom, addicted to the Twelve Steps. We are called to receive more of His life, not strive in our own efforts.

For years, I was convinced that I just needed to try a little harder, do a little more. No one had ever told me that law and grace is how we meet the world we live in. Either we are working for everything, or we are receiving all thing from Him who has been from the beginning (1 John 2: 12-14)

The issue is not about holding our thoughts in line, or feeling a certain way.

It's about resting in the truth of all that Jesus has done. It's about the truth. Grace is not a preference, or a different way of living. It is the truth, and cannot be rejected if we want to receive the Good News. Paul was clear and unwavering: 

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel" (Galatians 1: 6)

and

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2: 20)

and finally

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." (Revelation 22: 21)

In many churches, there is such emphasis on us, not on Him. Sometimes, I imagine Jesus standing outside, almost jokingly saying: "Hey, I am the head of this organization. May I come in?" Jesus is alive, and invites us to receive more of Him. Do churches talk about grace? Do they talk about the gift of righteousness? Do they talk about Jesus, our living savior?

Too often, I find that is not the case. In some cases, I have heard outright lies: "God will give you only so many chances, then He will leave you."

That is a lie from the pit of hell. I am not settling for the lies, distortions, and disregard of the truth so prevalent in many churches. The truth of God's grace is not being preached, not being revealed.

I feel lied to, cheated. I needed the truth, and what I was getting was comfort measures. I feel like the Danny DeVito character in "Throw Momma from the Train: "You lied to me!"

Grace is the truth, and both are one in Christ Jesus:

"The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1: 17)