"Perfect Balance" -5

"For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:18-21) Another sleepless night! It started with a vision of someone walking a tightrope; if it was me or not, I could not tell; all that I knew, from that point on, was that I was trying to figure out what was on either side of that rope. Maybe I was focused on the wrong thing? Instead of being worried about what was on either side of the rope, likened to a song that was stuck in my head about 'one sides ice and one is fire', I should have focused more upon the rope! Pretty much the most narrow path that you can ever walk upon, and yet it is not impossible for those that have the ability to perform it. Some will even have the courage to perform it without the use of a net; although, I think that they might have a safety wire attached to them; you just wouldn't know it unless they fell. However, in the case of this vision, I believe that the rope is meant to represent Jesus Christ; being the narrow path that must be walked upon. And yet, in so doing, He will hold our feet to that rope in such a way, that it is not impossible to walk. And then there was one more element to this vision, one which really had me going, which was the 20 foot staff in the hands of the person walking that tightrope. What could this be? was the question that kept passing from pillow to pillow all night. The word 'frustrate' that is used in Galatians 2:21 is the word 'atheteo', which is a word that means to displace, abolish, or get rid of. If you know anything about walking a tightrope, or have ever witnessed it being done, then you know how important it is for the person walking that rope to have hold of the staff, and to keep it centered with his body and his body centered with it. This is what grace is to our life in Christ! It is like the staff to tightrope walker, and something that we can never displace, abolish, or get rid of; because if we do, then we will realize the other definition to frustrate, the one that is given in Webster's: To Defeat!!!