so i'm reading this book "what's so amazing about grace?" by philip yancy, and i'm really enjoying it. i'm learning a lot and thinking about a lot and doing some refocusing (or trying to) etc. etc. etc. so throughout the whole book he talks about grace (obviously), and he brings up the question 'why be good if i know God will forgive me?" which is a reasonable question if you want to ask it. he went on to say that when we understand God's grace and love, we will be "good" in response to that.
'if we truly grasped the wonder of God's love for us, the devious question that prompted romans 6 and 7 - what can i get away with - would never even occur to us. we would spend our days trying to fathom, not exploit, God's grace.'
ok, that makes sense. i'm starting to worry about a cycle, though. because of God's grace, we don't need to prove ourselves or earn His love or follow the rules or anything. there's nothing we can do to gain His love and acceptance. so in one sense, we are free from rules. but when we realize this, we will supposedly start obeying Him voluntarily. how long will it be before we lose focus again, before we become intent on proving our love for God, before faith becomes a religion of works again? i'm trying to love people the best i can, because that's what God wants. your actions become tied to God's grace. seems to me like there are different motives, but we come again to the same problem.
i suppose it comes from pursing a life of love for God and people, which doesn't at all sound dangerous. why am i so disconcerted then?
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