While many believers fear the doctrine of grace, the God of Israel most certainly does not. This chapter overflows with descriptions of God’s unmerited grace, portrayed through a parable: God pours out His love on an unwanted baby girl left to die in the street, raising her to life and bringing her into covenant relationship with Himself. Grace itself is never dangerous. In fact, the opposite is true: without God’s grace, all of us would be in mortal danger.
What troubles God, however, is not grace, but a distorted response to grace. In Ezekiel 16, we encounter one of the clearest pictures of “cheap grace” in all of Scripture. Israel abuses God’s kindness, pursuing other “lovers” (foreign gods) and living as though His covenant freed them from all godly boundaries.
Grace itself is never dangerous. In fact, the opposite is true: without God’s grace, all of us would be in mortal danger.
God’s grace is never meant to give us license to do whatever we please. Instead, it is His goodness at work in us, creating within us the desire to do His will. Put simply: when we sing “Amazing Grace” with a sound understanding of grace, the natural next song on our lips will be “I Surrender All.”
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:11-14).
