Free at Last - Conclusion

I love houses that have lots of big windows in them. The sun can filter in. It gives warmth and a sense of love to the house. But have you ever been to a prison? Not a lot of windows. Very few ways for the sun to get in. It is pretty depressing. And when I read this passage, I think we can expound on Jesus’ parable about building on the rock and not the shifting sand. Of course we all agree that the foundation must be firm. We choose to build on the rock—the foundation is Christ. He is solid.

But what are we going to build on top of that? Will we see our life as merely abiding by some rules that we have made up that seem to be wise? Will we look down on others who don’t seem as spiritual? Will we turn the Christian life from a celebration of forgiveness into a checklist of rules? If so, we are building a prison.

But when we see our lives in the context of grace, realizing that righteousness and purity are not what gets us to heaven, I think we are free to let the light of God’s love in. We are free to revel in his grace. But most importantly, we are free to shine that love back on this world. There are many people who won’t enter into a church because they don’t want to be judged and they don’t feel they are good enough. And until we return to grace as the building material, they probably never will feel comfortable. The house of God is a house of glass that allows us to view the world freely through grace-tinted windows.