Grace is Dangerous

Grace is Dangerous

I remember, a number of years ago, Charles Swindoll was preaching a sermon and one of his points was, and I hope I get this right, that if we preach grace properly, it is dangerous and scary.  Preaching grace properly may result in people acting and responding in ways that might make us very uncomfortable.  They may take the freedom that grace brings and use it in ways that we totally disagree with. Our tendency, then, is to limit our teachings on grace.  We want to add a touch or two of the law in with our teaching on grace so that people are limited.  Of course, we want to be the arbitrators of which laws we want people to obey.  In doing such things, we wipe out the concept of grace.
In a nation, we love the ideas of free speech, right to bear arms, freedom to assemble, etc.  But those freedoms can, and probably will be, abused.  They may even result in harm done to those who promote such freedoms.  Our first reaction may be to then limit those freedoms.  There is wisdom in that.  Our freedoms provided by our constitution or not absolute freedoms.  There are limits to what we can say etc.  But freedoms carry with them the chance that people may choose to use their freedoms in ways that we disagree with or that we believe may be harmful to our country.  Again, our first response will be to then limit their freedom.  In doing so, eventually we end up limiting our own freedom.  So what do we do?  We disagree, we debate, we seek to, by civil discourse, to persuade and win the other person over to our way of thinking.  But, what we often forget, is that in order to understand what we are discussing we must listen to each other first. Rhetoric, accusations, straw men, hyperbole, name calling, etc. does not lead to heart change.  It only leads to misunderstanding that leads to yelling louder, anger, feet stomping, and violence.  It is what we have become as a country.  Our only goal seems to be to shut the other person up.
The answer to the abuses of grace is the teaching of true grace that overwhelms the heart to desire the grace giver.  The answer to the abuses of freedom is love that produces a desire for the one who gives real freedom.  A real love that listens first and disagrees while still loving the one they disagree with.  Jesus, who was hated more than anyone, commanded us to love our enemies.  Love is not a feeling but is an action of respect, patience, and grace.  Retaliation only wins for a short while and it keeps the war going.  We are sinful, selfish people who demand all that we believe is ours. We will never give ourselves the chance to see for ourselves what true grace and true freedom are unless we surrender to the one who gives grace and freedom.  We only surrender to him when he opens our eyes.  Now is the time for those who know Jesus to fall to our knees and pray for him to open the eyes of our nation.