Analogy

I have been thinking a lot about this whole law and grace thing, after studying Galatians and now starting Romans.

You may or may not know that I am VERY into the topic of food and health, click here to read my health blog.  The thought occurred to me yesterday that law and grace can be compared to diet.

Let's say you are experiencing health issues and your doctor tells you to go on an allergen-free diet.  You can't have any dairy, eggs, wheat, or soy.  You are going to feel VERY restricted, you will feel bondage.  I guarantee, it won't be fun, you will be thinking about all the foods you can't have.  Everywhere you look, there are foods that you can't eat!

Now, let's say that you are studying about health and learn that something isn't good for you, sugar, for example.  You start cutting back on sugar, you may cut out desserts altogether, you may cut out soda altogether, you may start reading labels and becoming more aware of what foods have sugar in them.  It's not a hard thing for you to do, it's relatively easy, you don't desire sugar as much as you used to, you desire to eat more healthy.

This is the difference between law and grace.  Law puts you in bondage, it says what you can and can't do and humans are rule-breakers by nature.  Grace gives you the desire to do what's right and pleasing to the Lord.  It's easy.

Perhaps another analogy will help you.  Let's talk about music.

As a teen, I was told by my church, my parents, and my school that secular music was bad and I was not allowed to listen to it.  Well, remember I said before that we humans are, by nature, rule-breakers.  I rebelled and listened to secular music every chance I got.  Music was my life, I love all types of music, from classical, to jazz, to hard rock.  To tell me I couldn't listen to a huge group of music was unbearable.

Now many years later, I still have a wide repertoire of secular music I enjoy, but I find that if it's not true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report (Phil. 4:8), I don't have the desire to listen to it.  (There is actually a lot of good, quality secular music out there, it's not a clear-cut, secular versus Christian thing.)  In fact, I find the desire for music, on a whole, is just not there like it used to be.  I would rather use my time to listen to a podcast of one of my favorite Bible teachers.

As Christians we do not have a big list of dos and don'ts, it is not a life of bondage and restriction.  We have the power of the Holy Spirit working on the inside of us (Phil. 1:6 & Gal. 5:22) so that we want to please the Lord.  And it is not that since we are no longer under the law, we are free to do as we please, either!  (Romans 6:1-2)  Our lives are no longer our own, we have been bought by the blood of Jesus (Acts 20:28) and when we get a true revelation of His sacrifice and His love for us, we want to please Him.  When we have faith in His redemptive work (His Word, His instructions), and obey the things He leads us to do (be a doer, not a hearer only), it is easy, because of His grace.