BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION OR GRACE

Listen, I have gone to church since I was a boy. I have a good idea of what I heard then, what I trained to say, and what I hear now. I have been a participant in countless ecclesiastical programs and discussions. We tend to emphasize external change and obedience and underemphasize grace. We preach grace but are sort of afraid of it, lest it lead to recklessness.
You know, people will become sloppy ethically and morally and take advantage of a grace position. That’s the worry. People will become apathetic if they can fall back on God’s grace like a default. That’s been the thinking. Now, indifference is a possibility I will grant. However, I don’t believe that the most effective means to meet that challenge is to concentrate on behaviour modification through endless series of “do better” sermons. That puts the accent chiefly on Christian living or Christians living when the real emphasis should be on Christ. We don’t talk enough about Christ. The first approach inclines to legalism, whereas the other leans to love – love for Christ. The more we learn about Jesus and the more that we love who Jesus is and how merciful he is to us, the more restraint we place on ourselves to avoid sin and the more resolve we generate to be like him.