Grace yes, but our choices have consequences.
Grace in the Christian sense is an undeserved favor from God. We are thus saved by Grace, by means of faith in the perfect and finished work of the cross. By sacrificing His only begotten Son, God has reconciled us to Himself and has blotted out the acts whose ordinances condemned us. We are a new creature in Him and are called to walk in newness of life. By the same Grace, we can each time approach the throne of God, to have the redemption of our sins and iniquities, each time that despite our good will to obey and to walk in His ways, we allow ourselves to be seduced by satan. , to find a compromise in sin. The Grace of God is always available to those who sincerely repent. But would Grace therefore resolve itself into a pretext for sin?
Romans 6: 1-2 (KJV) “What shall we say then? Would we remain in sin so that grace might abound? Far from there ! … ”
Grace is available yes, but God cannot, despite this, prevent us from living the consequences of our choices, for several reasons.
1. God respects our free will.
Deuteronomy 30:19 (KJV) “Today I call heaven and earth to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life, so that you and your posterity live… ”
God created us free. He does not want to be served by people without a will of their own. It has always been believed that free will was given only to men. But I personally believe that God has endowed all of His creatures with free will. Even the angels in heaven have free will, otherwise satan would not exist today.
The Bible teaches us that he was Lucifer, angel of light, one of the most beautiful and powerful angels of God, until the day when he meditated in his heart that he could rise above God. We don’t think about it often, but the elements of nature are also endowed with free will.
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So a fig tree can choose not to bear fruit, while the master needs it ( Mark 11:13; Luke 13: 6-9). The wind and the storm can decide to rise and to wave a boat in which the Lord sleeps, even if it means disturbing his sleep ( Mark 4:37 ). In the Book of Romans 8:20 , we read that “the creation was subjected to vanity, not of her own accord …” In the current French version, we can read “no because she wanted it herself “.
This suggests that creation has a will. Indeed, it is a principle proper to God, that everything that breathes or claims from Him, serves Him in complete freedom. This is why God cannot deprive us of the faculty of choosing to obey Him or not, to live or to die, to choose eternal life in paradise or eternal death in hell. God will not come and choose for us. He presents us as revealed to usDeuteronomy 39:19 life and death, yet advising us out of love to make the right choice to choose life. But when we insist on choosing the path of destruction, God does not violate our freedom, to prevent us from living the consequences.
2 It is an everlasting law of the Lord.
Genesis 8:22 “As long as the earth lasts, it will be sown and it will reap …”
God when he caused the earth to emerge from the waters after the flood, established a law that lasts from generation to generation, until heaven and earth were no more. It is indeed that of sowing and reaping. Since then, there are no possible prayers not to reap what has been sown, nor for a given species, to bear the fruits of another.
As Matthew 7:16 (KJV) asks : “… Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? “ And Luke gives us the answer: Luke 6:44 (KJV)” For each tree is known by its fruit. We do not pick figs from thorns, and we do not harvest grapes from brambles ” . Therefore, depending on the type of seed, we harvest ineluctably accordingly.
Galatians 6: 8 (KJV) “He that sows to his flesh shall reap corruption from the flesh; but he who sows for the Spirit will reap everlasting life from the Spirit. “
Unless you contradict yourself, and it is not about to happen, God can do nothing to prevent you from reaping what you have sown. Grace yes, forgiveness yes, but God created the universe to be governed by cause and effect links.
Thus, everyone will therefore assume the disappointments related to their choices. However, the good news is that God ignores times of ignorance. When the repentant is sincere, His Grace comes to give you the ability to easily endure the consequences that could have been fatal without her.
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3. We do not make fun of God.
God looks at the heart. He knows who is wrong in good faith and who simply rebels; and in His great wisdom, He grants everyone what is convenient.
Galatians 6: 7 (KJV) “Make no mistake about it: God is not mocked. What a man sows he will also reap. “
To mock God is to “give a damn about Him, His commandments and prescriptions. God makes sure that those who behave in this way do not escape the consequences of their actions. He makes it His business. It is really terrible to have God as an enemy. Never run that risk. When you don’t know, you can plead ignorance. But if you know and God knows when you know, you can’t rely on it anymore.
Grace is therefore not, as many think, a discharge to continue to sin blithely, counting on the leniency of a God who understands and empathizes ad infinitum. On the contrary, Grace intervened, so that we no longer have any excuses to continue living in sin. It is thus the capacity that God gives us to overcome sin.
