Cautious grace
Martha Olawale
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Romans 6:1-2
We enjoy honey from bees, but bees also sting. Also, water is a source of life, but it can also take life, and fire is necessary for human sustenance and can also destroy. We cook and even warm our homes with fire, but we know not to stick our fingers in it; otherwise, it will burn them. Although all the things we need for life are accessible to humanity, they are also things that, if misused, can cause pain.
Grace lived right comes with a caution. To understand grace, we must embrace ‘Caution’ as a friend to keep us grace-aligned. Grace is not a pass to live as we like; it is an extension of God’s goodness for us to enjoy all that pertains to life and godliness while honoring the sacrifice of Christ. We are saved by grace and must live within the perimeters of grace as Christians. Writing to the Ephesians, Paul said in chapter 2:8, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
Just like God's grace for salvation, He also gives us different levels of grace as His children. To some, He gave the grace to preach, and to some, the grace for hospitality. However, many of us are operating without cognizance of our perimeters and stepping out of the circle God wants us to stay. Whatever the grace God gives, it’s paramount that we live within it to maximize His will for our lives.
I am guilty of stretching my tentacles beyond my limits, and I’ve had to pay the price for that many times. When I step outside God’s grace over my life, it might be for something noble, but it always comes with heaviness. For instance, I have the grace to speak to Christians but not so much to politicians or people who have not crossed the line of salvation. If, for some reason, I step outside that grace, I will get drained by my actions so fast that I’ll have to say, “Okay, Martha, back off; that’s someone else’s assignment.”
Caution and grace seem to be counterintuitive, but they are actually complementary. Grace is a gift, and it’s undeserved. One can say it’s sentimental because it stimulates human emotions in the most beautiful ways if received right. If a stranger will give me his mansion on the condition that I take care of it as long as he’s away, and if I do, he promises me a better and permanent estate when he returns, I’ll try my best to do that. I can’t fault my benefactor if he doesn’t trust me with the gift of a permanent home when he returns to find his mansion trashed.
Well, Jesus gave us new lives when we became Christians. He gave us the power to become sons and daughters of God (John 1:12). In addition to that, He also left us the Holy Spirit to help guide us through life. Caution helps us to be conscious of the Holy Spirit’s leading to live like Christ, because when we don’t, we abuse God’s grace.
