I'm Living on Grace Avenue

Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast.

Recently my four-year-old, Clara, asked me, "Is Carynnie going to be bigger than me?" This is quite a strong likelihood, so I did what any good mom would do.....I dodged the question. "Why do you ask, Sweetheart?" "Well, Hayleigh said Carynne is going to be bigger than me, but I'm supposed to be the big sister." There you have it. At four, she's already questioning whether she will measure up to what's expected of her.

Like every person she just wants to know that she is good enough. Mad at the crazy expectations, people place on themselves and others, I wanted to scream in exasperation, "Where is the rule that says you have to be bigger than your little sister to be the big sister?" Instead, I calmly explained to her that God had perfectly designed her in every possible way to be Carynne's big sister, no matter what her size. I told her that God loves her so much that He knew before she ever born exactly what she would need to be a big sister. I reassured her that God never withholds His very best from His children.

This morning I am reading Acts 15:1-21. Paul and Barnabas are still in Antioch teaching the believers there. Some other men come into that region and begin to teach that Gentiles must be circumcised in order to be saved. The Antioch church sends Paul and Barnabus to Jerusalem to meet with the elders there and discuss this issue. That starts a landslide of legalism and soon others are teaching that you must also obey everything in the law of Moses to be saved.

Peter stands as the voice of grace and points everyone back to the fact that God had poured His Spirit on the Gentiles without any additional requirements than their saving faith in Christ. My favorite part of this passage comes in Verse 19 when Peter says, "It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God."

There have been plenty of times when I have either been the subject of someone's attempt at legalism or the instrument of legalism myself. The rules we impose on ourselves can be unwritten but exist nonetheless. It could be the silent exclusion of someone who dresses differently or the verbal expression of rules about habits and entertainment that simply do not exist in God's Word. Whatever they are, they are divisive and definitely not pleasing to Jesus.

Jesus, today I will be wise enough to learn and apply what Your Word actually does say. I will also be humble enough to cast off any addition to it that I or someone else has made. Today let me live at the intersection of Grace Avenue and Love Street and deposit in the corner's trash can everything else.