I was musing on ‘The Shack’ by William P Young. It’s about a guy with a religious background who goes through some horrendous experiences. The book describes his journey and portrays the idea that Christianity is all about relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
My experience of people today, particularly those with a post-modern outlook, is that they are dubious about old-fashioned religion but eagerly desire meaningful relationships.
My train of thought then went to the dual aspects of parenting and the Bible! Put very simply, the Old Testament is more focused on law while the New Testament is more about grace. It’s a bit like parenting. You have to have the law as a framework – no lying, stealing, fighting. Bedtimes are at a certain time. Hitting your brother is not a good idea. Chocolate is a treat to be enjoyed when I offer it, not whenever you want it.
But then over the top of that is a layer of grace where the rules can be bent a little. “Maybe you can go to bed later for this special occasion/ as it’s the weekend”, or “Just for today I will let you eat more sweet stuff than usual”. If you only offer law, you produce rigidity, frustration, anger and rebellion. If you only give grace, you produce spoilt children with little self-discipline or self-control, who have virtually no respect or recognition of boundaries.
I remember when my first child was born. I was amazed at the intensity of love that I felt for this helpless, needy bundle. There were lots of unspoken hopes and dreams for this baby, but the thing that I was looking forward to most was spending time coming to know and just being with this person. This was the beginning of a long (and hopefully close) relationship. I would imagine that God feels just the same about us.
How would an objective, external observer view the balance between law and grace in your household at the moment?
As God’s ambassadors on Earth, could we also offer unconditional love and meaningful relationship to those around us who think of God as remote or non-existent?
Excellent thoughts, Hannah! Love it!
Hi Hannah,
Great to read you thoughts. I’m not a mother so I can only observe the trials of parenting, with much respect, from the outside! I just wanted to offer some thoughts on grace though, as I was a bit uncomfortable about the suggestion that the Old Testament is more focused on the law while the New Testament is more about grace. It is true that we are all saved by the grace of God through the faithfulness of Christ and so it can seem as if the New Testament has a monopoly on grace, but I don’t think this is the case. I would say that the Old Testament is abounding in grace! Creation was an act of grace, so was the covenant with Abraham and Israel, and the law (Torah) itself was considered a gift of grace to Israel. I think discipline is an act of grace and love towards children as is God’s discipline of us.
There are so many examples of grace in the Old Testament, and this must be so, because if graciousness is one of the most fundamental aspects of God’s character it must always be evident, as he never changes.
Jess
Hi Jess, thanks for taking the time to comment!
I totally agree that God is a God of grace throughout the Bible and there are many examples of this in the OT. To be fair, though, I don’t think I said that the NT has a monopoly on grace, nor was that the focus of what I was writing.
Simply put, I was making a broad-brush generalized statement, to set up what I wanted to talk about – namely balancing law and grace as a parent. If that was an unhelpful illustration for you, then apologies!
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Our parents guides us to the right way, no parent wants there children in harms way, just like God who wants us to be happy in life.
Seconded, Parents do love thier children from the bottom of thier hearts, no matter what thier children state at. As like for God.
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