LIKE OIL

I don't know a lot about cars, but I know this much:

Oil needs to permeate every nook of the engine. If the oil is low, the engine might keep functioning for a time, but the friction will generate a lot more heat. As that heat builds, the oil will burn up faster. Once the oil runs dry, the whole engine locks up, breaks down, and becomes useless. 

As I am reading through the Apostle Paul's letters to the various newborn churches, it is clear that Church life has been fraught with difficulty and conflict from the beginning. 

MAYBE there was a short honeymoon era just after the flames of Pentecost, but soon enough there was plenty of greed, false teaching, and quarreling to go around.

It seems to me that Paul had high standards for the Church, but that he was also a realist. He knew there would be weeds sown among the wheat, spiritual infants needing milk, and gullible people unable to discern heresy from sound doctrine. 

Maybe this is why he began most of his letters with some variation of "Grace to you!"

Grace is to the Church what oil is to an engine.