in Christ: Andrew Fountain's blog

Today I preached on Psalm 90
At first sight this seems like a very depressing Psalm:

7. Yes, we are consumed by your anger,
   
   and by your wrath we are terrified.

Not very encouraging. Let's see how it continues...

8. You have set our iniquities before you,
   
   our secret sins in the light of your presence.

...But it gets worse:

9. All our days pass away under your wrath,
   
   we finish our years with a moan.
   [literal translation]
10. The length of our days is seventy years
    
    or if we have strength, eighty;
    

    yet their best is but trouble and oppression;
    

    for they quickly pass and we fly away.

I believe in grace, not legalism. Today I preached on the sermon on the mount in Luke. I came face to face with the problem that Jesus preached a lot of commands, and ended the sermon saying that those who kept the commands would be preserved and those who didn't would be destroyed (the house on the sand).
How come Jesus didn't say "I love you and nothing you can do will make me love you more or love you less"? Instead he gave us a set of commands that are even harder to keep than those of Moses, and said things like "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." (John 14:21). I don't believe that we are loved on the basis of our performance, but this is what it sounds like Jesus is saying.