The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. –Romans 5:20 & 21, NIV 2010-11
I have spoken about the inefficacy of the five-o’-clock news in Puerto Rico, which is always highlighting the terrors of life and the glorified tears of aching mothers. You would see someone on a corner or a TV screen debating about something they haven’t even experienced of in the first place, and they would showcase their anger should they be in that position. And please, don’t get me started with the long faces of external bitterness!
If we did this, if we did that… Ack, it can be so underrated. Because, it is.
Law came in as a reminder of how horrible we were before God (conscience, anyone?). We now see the dirty plates in our kitchen, and we recognize that they’re dirty. And we now see that we’re as dirty as we are, and the world above us has become nasty! (Need I say it anymore?)
There’s something above that, though. Just a faint glimmer? Eh, nope. It’s even more than what we thought. Above all that pain and suffering, and guilt and heartache…There’s a little gift called grace.
And I am not condoning those actions. Above the heads of the world lays a judgment that will lay down on the Day the Lord breaks the seals. Even above that is an aura of grace, the only thing that gives us breath of spirit. It’s not much, you say? Have you heard that a little goes a long way?
Even above the groans of His creation, longing for something more, his grace is over and under and into our souls. If we could see it…
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.-Matthew 16:18 & 19, NIV 2010