Are you under grace or the law?

I couldn't attend a church that was showing Beth Moore simulcast because of other comments I had, so I spent the $20 and watched it on my through the digital pass later. Beth had spoken about on my favorite topics and one that has been speaking loudly in my life lately. Where do you live under grace or under the law? I would like to say that I live under grace, but I don't always. One of the things Beth did was give a 13 question quiz to see where you are living. They are statements and you answer true or false. Here goes.

1.) I tend to assume that the hardest option is probably the godliest. In other words, the obedient way is probably the harder of 2 ways.

2.) I rarely ask for forgiveness only once for any significant transgression even if I am truly repented the first time. (Including gossip/sharp words t someone/any demonstration of pride, etc.)

3.) I tend not to feel back in God's "good graces" right away after repentance.

4.) I catch myself wanting to pay penance after feeling like I've really messed up. (Penance defined here as "acts done to make u for sin.")

5.) I think God loves me, but in spite of me and not because of I'm lovable.

6.) Truth be told Jesus' parable about the workers who get paid equal wages regardless of how long or short a time they worked seems a bit disconceting.

7.) I deal with a fair amount of anxiety in my spiritual life.

8.) I struggle with considerable self-condemnation.

9.) I find it easier to tell others how much God loves them than I believe it for myself.

10.) I feel I must always bear up (continue to befriend) with the people who have wronged me over and over.

11.) I tend to feel guilty about some of the good things in my life.

12.) I know God loves me, but I think I often disappoint Him.

13.) Romans 14:17 says "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." However you would not know that from being around me.

Those that you answered true are the areas where you are under the law. I'll be honest I had a few trues when I took, and I still do now, however I'm working at changing my mindset in those areas. Finding things in the new testament that state that I'm under grace concerning those areas.

a little can still make a mess

So I'm going to step up from the norm, no verse today. I'm going to share about something I learned at the women's retreat I attended a couple of weeks ago. I was on the team that ran it, I had led to sessions. I had looked at the sessions before it started to pick which ones I wanted to do. When it came time to do the last session, I already knew what was going to happen. We were given a small cup of chocolate syrup, we were told to pour it into our palm. Now some people took the cup and poured all of it and covered their hand with it. I poured a very small amount on my hand in a small little puddle. I tried to be very neat with this. However, I had to sit there and hold my hand in a fashion that would keep the syrup from running all over, soon my little chocolate mess wasn't so little. It hard started to spread. It was also tempting to play with it a little, by moving my hand around and watching it slowly run from one side to the other. If you haven't guessed the syrup was suppose represent sin. The picture I got, wasn't about how much I need grace, and forgiveness, it was how Christians seem to deal with sin after they have been saved. I'm going to control how much "sin" I pour into my hand. It still makes a mess. I'm only going to do this little thing, but after I've got it on my hand, I'm going to play around with it and make the mess a little bigger. I'm also going to hold it in my hand and try and not let anyone see it, but I know it's still there. I'm going to see it for what it is, and try and scrape some it back in the cup, but I still have some left on my hand. As Christian, we need to stop messing with sin, even if we think we can control it. We can't. God is still going to have to clean up the mess. Sitting there with this small puddle of syrup in my hand brought up some of those sins that I carefully poured in my hand, and tried to make only a small puddle with. I have also scraped that small amount of chocolate off my hand, but there's still some left. I am done with that sin, but I haven't really washed my hands since. So what do I do with this picture? Do I continue on?  My hand has been dirty for a few years now. No, in that moment, before I got up and had my hand cleaned off of the real syrup, I addressed it. I was full of guilt and shame in that moment, unaware that I had this small mess in my hands all the time, but once I dealt with, once I got my hands clean, the guilt and shame went away. Maybe now, you need to go and get the chocolate syrup, and put just a small amount in your hand, so those "small" sins you "controlled" and "played" with get cleaned.