I was watching Andy Stanley this morning and the series is about family. Today’s message really struck me and I wanted to share it with you. Stanley was pointing out that when Jesus came to earth His message actually made the ten commandments appear even more restrictive.
For example, “Do not commit adultery” became “If you even look at a woman with lust, you have committed adultery”. That pretty much included every man in the audience!
Then Stanley went on to say that even though Jesus made Christian living a harder He promised grace that is even greater.
“The greater the sin, the deeper the grace”, Stanley said. Then he went on to say, “There’s the real, the ideal, and then there’s the gap.”
I’m so glad Jesus knew there was a gap because that’s were I am most of the time-in the gap.:)
But Jesus is there with deeper grace than I would have thought possible. Jesus gave us the “ideal” but He also gives us “grace”-unmerited, undeserved, grace.But grace can never be anticipated. Counted on,yes, anticipated, no. It only comes right when we need it and God is the one who decides that.
Jesus gives us the “ideal” in His Sermon on the Mount, and we should always strive for the ideal. But we fall short. But that doesn’t mean we change the rules to suit our failures. We have to learn to deal with the tension of the “ideal” and the “real”. Sometimes we will get it right but there’s grace and forgiveness when we don’t.
God bless and I hope you have a good day.
