“Come near to God and he will come near to you.” James 4:8
Yesterday, we went to Oak Mountain State Park for a picnic and fun. It was a little bit more stressful than usual. The state park is usually a fun place to hang out, relax, and let the cares of the world blow away with the wind. As I was watching the kids walking near the lake to throw in rocks, God revealed my eyes to another analogy about grace and law only because I was slightly stressed. And in my stress, I wanted to create rules to dictate my surroundings to alleviate my stress. I wanted to say, “Don’t go anywhere near the water.” But going up to the water is where the joy is. Going near the water is what incites pleasure when throwing rocks. Throwing rocks from 10 feet away from the water is not nearly as joyful. Rules are created when we are afraid of something going amiss, like a kid or two falling into the water when they don’t know how to swim.
We had been talking about grace and law in Sunday school (Life Connection) that morning, and it is a favorite topic of mine. That’s one of the purposes of this blog – to ponder over the grace I’ve been given. At the end of my days, I don’t think I will ever begin to understand grace because the more I learn about it, the less I realize I know. I simply cannot wrap my mind around it. But I am so very thankful for it. There is however a delicate balance between grace and law. I’m not sure grace could exist if we’ve never known law. I think they are more intended to work together than to be seen as separate entities. Both are intended to save, to give life. However apart from grace, the law enslaves. The law does not allow you to draw near without following all of the rules correctly. Because a Holy God requires holiness from His people.
Say you go and open your Bible and read the book of Ephesians. You will find Paul speak of unity and abolishing the law which separated Jew and Gentile. Yet after all the doctrine he pours into the letter, he then gives application in the latter part of the book, which looks a lot like commands or laws to God’s people, Christians. These commands are intended to give us a picture of what a Christian who draws near to God looks like. So now, we see Christians also have rules to live by, again to protect us and keep us on the right path. But here’s the deal, when we are drawing near to Him, we follow His rules without trying. And because of grace, we are able to draw near to Him when in the past, His people could only go through a priest serving in the temple. Our transitional pastor, Dan Hall, said in his sermon yesterday that you are stronger when you are serving in the capacity that God calls you to, because you rely on Him more. From my experience, I would say this is so true, but I would add that you are ultimately at your weakest because when you are doing what He calls you to, you will stand against many attacks from the evil one, but will be most reliant on His strength.
So if God is like the lake, and we are like my kids, He wants us to draw near to Him and find joy in throwing the rocks in. He does not wish for someone like me to create conditions on how to draw near, by staying 10 feet away from the water or by not allowing the kids to go near the water at all, but He also wants us to be wise when we do draw near, and that’s what His commands do for us, just as my reminder to watch how close you get gives wisdom to my children. As they get older and more mature, they will know for themselves and will not need the reminder. They may even be able to swim and jump right in and find more delight in drawing even closer.
Today, I start counting my gifts:
1. Grace
2. Spring break and more time together
3. a birthday celebration
4. family outings to new places like DeSoto Caverns
5. days off of work for my hubby
Love your perspective. Praying for the courage to “jump in” today. 🙂
Oh me too. And I hope you did. 🙂
It’s hard sometimes to find that balance between allowing them the freedom to explore and protecting them from harm. I appreciate your analogy between faith and law here today — you’ve given me a lot of think about {and thanks for linking up with Graceful!}
It is hard to find the balance.
Happy pondering!! 🙂 Thanks for the linkup.
“But going up to the water is where the joy is” . . . wow, thank you for this invaluable reminder, friend.
in our family, we have severe food & environmental allergies to contend with daily, & so the application of grace gets very tricky for me amidst an incredibly-calculated diet. but there have been times when we’ve needed to slightly recalculate just for a day in order to accommodate something like a planned activity, & my son hears me say, “we follow the food plan as best we can. and we follow it well. but there are times when we need to make a slight change — & that’s okay. b/c ultimately, our trust is in the Lord and not the food plan.”
b/c i want him to fear the Lord, & not what he eats.
but then there are times like yesterday when he innocently took his cute little blue stuffed duck & swept it across our coffee table — the one that has somewhere b/t 1-2″ of dust at the moment. ugh. and my husband & i both reacted. b/c when you add the current green rain of pollen to an existing dust allergy, it makes for quite a health mess. so it was like we both shrieked at the sight. and i sensed it internally. and i realized that we were likely instilling a fear of the allergy trigger, rather than calmly communicating a healthy respect of it within the context of God’s sovereignty. and in general, i don’t want to stifle his wonderful child-like ways of simply living life.
yes, i need him to know that the rocks he throws into the water may be different rocks than other children’s rocks. but i don’t want him to be afraid of throwing the rocks altogether. i want him to approach the water, & the rock throwing, with freedom & great joy.
really, thanks again for this, jamie. and sorry to be so lengthy, but your analogy really articulated something that had already begun stirring in me yesterday. so thank you again, sweet friend.