941) For people of several generations, the church and Christian parents drilled into them that: 1. There are rules. 2. They are to be kept. Certainly not a bad way to live; it would help many avoid trouble in multiple ways. There is one weakness I see in this life-strategy, though. There is little room for grace.

In John 15, Jesus is speaking and compares his follower’s spiritual lives to grapes in a vineyard. He says he is the vine and God is the gardener. An apt statement and because of this, we should not overlook verse 9. This verse says, As the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. This is grace.

There are multiple times that the writers of the Bible describe God as a gracious God. I must admit that I don’t really understand this; my pattern of thought and actions tells me, you keep the rules and if you don’t; those in authority will punish you. I’m not saying that there aren’t natural consequences to our actions, but God gives us grace.

What does grace mean? That’s a difficult thing to answer, but I know God wraps our salvation in grace. Without it, God would forgive no one. This is why I see John 15:9 as so important. Yes, we do bad things and make bad choices, but God gives his love, as seen in grace, freely to us.

Wait a minute. Wouldn’t this make some Christians do whatever they want, saying it doesn’t matter because of forgiveness and grace? The Apostle Paul addresses this very thing in Romans 6. Yes, there will always be people that will use and abuse forgiveness and grace and yet, the mindboggling thing is that God’s love for us is greater than all the wrongdoing of mankind.

If only I could understand this better. I would often not be so hard on myself. God loves me. Period.