Anglican author Derek Kidner wrote in his commentary on Ecclesiastes ("A Time to Mourn, and a Time to Dance", 53), this thoughtful statement about grace: "No amount of emphasis on grace can justify taking liberties with God, for the very concept of grace demands gratitude; and gratitude cannot be casual."

I find that statement instructive given the generous and progressive attitude that most people today have about God's grace. Most people seem to think His grace is like a sifter through which nearly any miss-thought or deed can be poured and suddenly that which was unacceptable to God is cleaned up. I have occasionally pictured such thinking as people seeing God dropping a giant grace blanket from heaven designed to cover all our mistakes. We hear it more commonly expressed in the statement "God's grace will take care of that."

Surely we would all agree that God's grace is a marvelous and wondrous thing. We sometimes sing the song "Grace Greater Than Our Sin" which so well expresses that thought. And who does not know and thrills to sing "Amazing Grace." While these songs reflect the graciousness of God's grace nothing does it better than Scripture. Second Corinthians 8:9 speaks with emotional clarity about it: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." Reflecting on the words of that text helps us understand why we sometimes define grace with the simple words "unmerited favor." And perhaps no words of Scripture are better known about grace than Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." No one should dispute the greatness of God's grace!

Kidner makes his statement about grace within the context of discussing the opening verses of Ecclesiastes 5. Verse 1 says, "Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil."

Our recognition of the existence of God requires a certain spiritual decorum, a certain lifestyle to be lived out in respect for Whom we live before. So we read the words "Walk prudently." Prudent is to fit our words and actions according to the circumstance of things. The circumstance of things with God is as Hebrews 4:13 explains, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." Take hold of that thought and then begin to reflect on what changes we might need to make in our lives. To ignore this admonition and think that somehow, someway, God's grace will take care of things is to take liberties with God's grace. It is to offer the "sacrifice of fools." The result is as the text warns, "for they do not know that they do evil."

There is another aspect of these early words of Ecclesiastes 5 that catches my eye and mind. We are told in thinking about God to "draw near to hear" and "do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let you words be few."

The problem with too many of us is that we are too ready to talk and not ready to listen. We allow our lives to be guided by our thoughts and ideas as to how we are to worship and serve God. The traditions of men in serving God fill history and today, as men's words guide them to take liberties with God's revealed grace instead of bowing the knee in humble gratitude and obedience to God's revealed commands. The apostle John warns us "Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God" (2 John 9). God's grace does not allow us to treat God's doctrine with casualness.

This abuse of God's wondrous grace is not anything new. This Ecclesiastes text from the Old Testament warns us and just so the New Testament in Jude 4: "For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ." Both texts need to be read with care and caution lest we be guilty of offering the sacrifice of fools turning God's grace into lewdness (license; absence of restraint; arrogance). Taking liberties with God's grace is, to say the least, not wise. Ecclesiastes 5:7 says, "For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God."

- Focusing On Truth, April 2016