KEY SCRIPTURE 1Ti 1:18 KJV “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;”

In verse 18 apostle Paul tells Timothy that he is giving him a charge.A charge is a command that gives you no other options but to strictly adhere to it.Some have taught that the period of grace have no strict rules that we have to stand by or live by.God would not be God if he does not have absolute standards that can not be bent or twisted in any way.God’s moral laws will forever be thou shall not.It can never become thou may not steal or thou may not commit adultery.Forever and ever the command not to be envious of your neighbours goods would remain so.It is a charge and one needs to honour it as such.

God’s ordinances and customary laws given to Israel were shadows of the real thing which is fulfilled by the coming of Jesus.(Col 2:17 KJV “Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ). and so under the new covenant, these laws do not hold any longer since under the new covenant .Customs like dietary laws or festivals that come under ordinance do not apply under the new covenant.

Now, why does the grace of God not soften the moral laws? A moral law is the only way or manner of life that can make an individual relate to God.The moral laws are the very character of God.Breaking any of them is an attack on the very character of God, and makes you an enemy of God.Adhering to them is that which makes one walk the path of holiness.Remember, without holiness no man or woman can have anything to do with God( Heb 12:14).What then is the role of grace in walking in this pathway of holiness? The grace of God is the supernatural power of God working in our hearts that enables us to freely do all the upright, righteous things that God has charged us to do. This is the reason Romans 6:14 reads ” sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are not under the law, but under grace.The grace of God is a divine empowerment that helps us do the requirements of God.

Grace does not mean God would overlook any disobedience of any of his moral laws although that act was punished in Jesus, yet you can only benefit from Jesus’ sacrifice by accepting your action and confessing it( 1 John 1:9)..As I said earlier God’s moral laws are His intrinsic character that breaking them makes you break fellowship with Him.To break them is to treat God’s grace with contempt.This is what the bible calls taking the grace of God in vain.Apostle Paul said he laboured more abundantly than any of the apostles yet he is what he is because of the grace of God.(1 Corinth 15:9&10.)To benefit from God’s grace, you must have a willing attitude to honour God’s word and so in yielding to its dictates the power of the Spirit which is the grace of God carries you to do beyond your natural capabilities. God’s charges or commands demand your willing acceptance of what he has said, and then you commit or yield your faculties to what is said.Grace functions by faith.Your willing acceptance and your commitment to do what the word says is your faith in God and that faith sets the power of God( grace) to work through you.

THOUGHT:KEEPING GOD’S CHARGES MAKES US RESONATE WITH HIS NATURE, SO WE SHARE ALL THINGS WITH HIM.

FURTHER STUDIES

Rom 6:1 KJV “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound ? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

Rom 6:17 KJV “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.