At the top of my “What I like about God” list is His Grace. Not the “I can get away with stuff” part. In fact, I am pretty sure that part of Grace is not really grace. I like the “it’s there when I need it most“, and the “it is exactly what I need” aspect of grace.
I fear that some people view grace as this crazy idea that God has suspended His opinion temporarily. As if the church age is a period in history during which God has lowered His standard. He had to, right? We can’t meet His standard, so the opinion, (often unconscious) is that God brought the bar down, so that we could all clear it. In our culture, a “grace period” refers to a period of time when we can get away with not following through.
Not a single day passes in which your behaviors and choices have no effect on your life. If there were such a thing, what would happen if you made a Would you miss out on the benefits?
Grace.
Grace is power. Not encouragement, not motivation, not approval. Grace is Power. It can be encouraging, and motivating, and it can help you know you are accepted, but those are the effects, not the substance. Grace is an energizing force, which, when inhabiting people, generates through them the same impact as comes from the Giver of Grace. It is raw energy. I can either manufacture from my will and actions good behavior, or I can receive Goodness from the original source. Grace is the raw energy that enables me to actually be the person that God originally created me to be. On my own, apart from Grace, I am merely a poser and a stumbling imitation. I like Grace because it empowers me to actually be the man that I always wanted to be.
I like that it is available most, when I need it most. We so often focus on the “get away with stuff” thought that we may cheapen and miss the beauty of this gift. “Where sin abounds, Grace abound all the more” Paul tells us. And anticipating the natural human tendency he immediately says, “I am not telling you to sin more in order to get more”, as if we need to. Listen, the need is so constant and great, that the idea of conjuring up one more opportunity to “need grace” completely spits in the face of the One who paid a high price in order to offer us overwhelming love.
I tend toward weakness. My default setting is still selfishness. My mind seems to have, well, a mind of its own. My need for Grace, for an injection of God’s Nature, is ongoing. To make intentional choices to destroy myself and others because I believe God has suspended reality for this age is not presuming on Grace. It is choosing to act separate of the One Power which can bring life instead of death, and health instead of destruction. God will still love you, but you just signed up for pain. He will always have open arms, and fill you again tomorrow, but He loves you enough to allow you to reap what you sow on earth.
I need Grace every day, to flow through me and bring the effects of God into my circumstances and geography. I am grateful I do not have to earn God’s empowering presence. That would send me into a never-ending downward spiral in which I need God in order to change, but I cannot get God unless I change. Thank God, HE offers more of Himself at the times I need it most.
I really like Grace.
