A stone or a cross.
That’s one of the ways I see this time of the year.
By stone I mean the Law. The Law’s purpose, according to Galatians 3:24, is to be a tutor, a schoolmaster, a guardian to lead us to Jesus. It was in effect until Jesus came and then we moved from there to justification by faith. The Law was a stone around our neck. There was no freedom. No escape. All the Law really offered was demands and condemnation.
On the other side of the coin is the cross. Whereas the Law brought demands and condemnation, the cross brought love and freedom. The cross was far superior in every way to the Law. Instead of outside works being associated with righteousness, we are now declared righteous by the blood of Christ.
You could say a stone was used in judgment of someone when thrown; the cross was used to take away that judgment and placed on Someone else. I’ll take the cross.
Not having grown up in or significantly experience the legalism that some have in some circles, I do not view the law as the opposite of grace. Quite the contrary. I see the law as my guardrails to life. Grace is applied when I have left those guardrails. The cross stands as the bridge to get me back on the road and moving in the right direction once again.
I’ll take the cross, too, Bill!
Blessings!
Beautiful!!!