For most people, their behavior is controlled by them trying to obey God’s laws, not because of its intended purpose, but because of the fear of the consequences if we don’t.

No one can capture the favor of God by trying to keep his commandments.

In John 14:23, Jesus says, “If a person really loves me, he will keep my commandments.” Blind obedience without love will maintain order, but does nothing to enhance a loving relationship. Blind obedience without recognizing its value is destined for failure.

Love gives the reason to obey and gives us value and worth. The hungering heart will seek with Passion the kingdom of God. The complacent heart will grow restless in his walk with God.

Learning and functioning within the law is the beginning of recognizing, that we were disobeying God. His law was created to make us realize that we could not keep it in our own strength. It was also created to provide direction and structure for our lives. However, prolonged preoccupation with “do’s and don’ts” distract us from God’s intended goals. By understanding God’s love, we can truly love one another. I have learned that without the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit, my mind drifts into a thinking mentality of faultfinding about others and myself.

Jesus did not come to earth to impose the law or to rule over us as a dictator to dominate us. He came to empower us to be able to keep the law by His love and the Spirit of grace working on the inside of us. He came to bridge the gap between His creative order by giving us an awareness of His devoted love. God’s love can only be described as His “forgiving grace.” God is aware that while we are learning, maturing and growing spiritually, we will stumble. We will fall short and violate His perfect will for us. However, like the loving Father that He is, His grace intercedes and covers our faults. This in turn gives us the power to maintain and continue our loving relationship with Him.

Not undermining our responsibility to walk in obedience, but emphasizing that the course that leads to peace and harmony with God should not be interrupted by our shortcomings and our feelings of disappointment. We have all felt at times that we had to measure up. God’s ultimate goal in sharing the universe with mankind should not be delayed because man’s behavior is imperfect.

God provided His love unconditionally. He created man perfect in His image and through Jesus Christ accepts man flawlessly. Only by learning to receive and accept God’s loving grace and power of forgiveness, will man feel true peace. In cooperation with the Holy Spirit, man is learning how to live free of the torment of guilt and the feeling of falling short.

The Holy Spirit is “The Comforter” the one who guides us while we are learning. The instruction from the Holy Spirit is awareness, vision and understanding not criticism. We need to focus our attention on seeking the face and personality of God by increase our awareness of learning more of Him, rather then about Him. The struggle of law and grace is interwoven throughout the New Testament. The Apostle Paul speaks in the book of Romans about being enslaved by his own carnal nature. He describes these two contrasting forces as a war that he experienced daily. (We do to)! He says to fight the good fight of faith and only by us experiencing God’s grace, can we fulfill the desire God put in us to reach full maturity.

11Peter 3:18 tells us “we are to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.” With a continual diet of interpreting scripture through the understanding of grace vs. doing works by the law, we invite more of the presence of God in our lives.