Undeserved grace

Acts 15:7-11 (NLT)
7 At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: “Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. 8 God knows people’s hearts, and he confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. 9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he cleansed their hearts through faith. 10 So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? 11 We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

There were Pharisee Christians teaching Gentiles they needed to follow Mosaic laws along with their Christian belief in order to be saved. A meeting was convened and the apostle Peter addressed the group. The content of his message was the good news of salvation was given to all men without a distinction between them. Therefore it was unreasonable to impose laws and rules upon the Gentiles that even the Jews who lived under God’s hand were not able themselves to keep.

Margaret Thatcher in her October 1988 speech to The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland said the following: “Ideally, when Christians meet, as Christians, to take counsel together their purpose is not (or should not be) to ascertain what is the mind of the majority but what is the mind of the Holy Spirit—something which may be quite different.”

Sometimes we forget a Christian life is not about our rules, judgments or impositions we place on ourselves or others. A Christian life is about receiving the underserved grace of our Lord Jesus. It is about letting the Holy Spirit guide our individual lives and having a close fellowship with our Lord and Savior. A Christian life contains forgiveness and love towards each other as God has extended His merciful love towards us. And while we desire to live a righteous and holy life, perfection is impossible. So we need to stop trying to impose rules on others which we ourselves cannot keep.