[ampaterry]

Yesterday, I spoke of the fact that your INTENT is what you are judged on, and not the RESULT of your actions. Some folks may think that others can use this as an excuse to do wrong, by just claiming they did not MEAN to do what they did.

Robert Farrar Capon addressed this in Between Noon and Three:
Folks are worried about permissiveness--about the way the preaching of grace seems to say it's okay to do all kinds of terrible things as long as you just walk in afterward and take the free gift of God's forgiveness. ...
While you and I may be worried about seeming to give permission, Jesus apparently wasn't. He wasn't afraid of giving the prodigal son a kiss instead of a lecture, a party instead of probation; and he proved that by bringing in the elder brother at the end of the story and having him raise pretty much the same objections you do. He's angry about the party. He complains that his father is lowering standards and ignoring virtue--that music, dancing, and a fattened calf are, in effect, just so many permissions to break the law. And to that, Jesus has the father say only one thing: "Cut that out! We're not playing good boys and bad boys any more. Your brother was dead and he's alive again. The name of the game from now on is resurrection, not bookkeeping."

I encourage you to read the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15;11-31. For additional thoughts about this, the word of God also tells us that Grace is bestowed to ALL people of faith:
Romans 4:16 (KJV);
"Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all"

And the Word of God tells us that our salvation is NOT a result of our good works:
Titus 3:5 (KJV);
"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;"

May God bless each and every one of you -