Grace or Law

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

GRACE OR LAW

Heb 13:9-14

9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. 10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. 12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

NIV

There is more said about this, especially another, ‘therefore’, but we will not be able to include that just yet, because there is much to ponder on before we get to that, ‘therefore’. We first must be careful not to get carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. The author makes the comparison between grace, Charis, and ceremonial foods, or the Levitical law of animal sacrifices. We understand some of those Hebrews who were the first recipients of this letter were making steps back to their Jewish way of life under the law. However, we have many strange teachings today that Christians can get caught up in that are not based on grace, but include certain laws, or man-made rules and regulations to be a “Good Christian”, which that term is meaningless. To define oneself as “Good” and as “Christian” seems strange in itself. One is either a Christian or one is not. One is either a follower of Jesus or one is not. We do not think one person can follow Jesus better than another, unless one of them has decided to add something to following Jesus, such as certain restrictions, or don’ts as well as adding additional things one must do, as those Jews were wanting to add sacrifices. Grace is grace and that is this Charis, which includes the meaning of the divine influence upon our hearts and how that influence is reflected in our lives. Of course, our lives are going to change because of the divine influence upon our hearts. Of course, there are things that we would want to do such as live a life of faith, praise, and honoring our Lord and Savior with our whole being. Certainly, coming from the darkness into the light to follow Jesus, means we leave the darkness behind with all its strange teachings. We can not go back to live under the influence of this world and live under the influence of grace. We cannot combine the worlds and Jesus’s teachings. It is either one or the other and we have decided to live under grace. We do not live in the camp, or the city, which is the world. No, we have left that behind, to go outside the city to the place where Jesus shed his blood for us, and now we are looking for a city to come, an eternal city where we live in the presence of our Lord. But for now, we have abandoned the law and all strange teachings to live in his marvelous grace.