Grace

Grace
noun
unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification

Recently, I read Phillip Yancey's book "What's So Amazing About Grace". I highly recommend it, and it is the reason why I am writing this. In it, Yancey wrote "I cannot claim that Grace is fair. Grace is, by nature unfair." That line reminded me of a particular line in one of my favorite songs, Be My Escape by Relient K. "The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair". I didn't get the line until I read the book, where he explains: "We get the opposite of what we deserve". If you really think about it, this is shocking. As human beings, we feel a desire for justice to be done. We sense and intuitively know that some things are broken, wrong and out of place. We want evildoers to be punished and restrained. We often WANT people to "get what they deserve". What we often don't think about, however, is that we are all infected with the same brokenness we see around us. It bothers us, so we often ignore it, claiming to be better than the rest of the world because we try to follow the rules. And yet, even though we try, we fail. We cannot measure up to the rules. We are human. Our concept of "fair" is flawed. We all need Grace. Grace isn't fair, because it treats everyone the same. I need grace, the same as a murderer or thief.

In Matthew 20, Jesus illustrates Grace with a story about workers in a vineyard.
At the beginning of the day, workers agree to work at the set rate. Much later that day, the Master hires more workers, who were previously unemployed. At the end of the day, all the workers receive the same reward, though some had labored longer than others. This is Grace. Though by our own standards, it may not seem "fair", if we claim that another isn't deserving of grace, we reject it. I am reminded of an earlier post on this blog, when Andrew wrote about the woman at the well. Jesus showed grace in this situation as well. By showing us this grace, he allows us to live a life transformed. "Go now, and sin no more." Grace is the enabler of love.

Grace leads us to love, love leads us forwards to more grace. It's a positive cycle, which is something truly amazing. We see so much negativity in the world, yet grace offers hope, peace, and love when it it needed most. It is the antidote to the problem, and the way through conflict.

I often find it hard to show grace and forgive, but knowing that God forgave me, even when I didn't deserve it, and the feeling of gratitude that follows makes it far easier.

I pray that we can all more effectively show the presence of grace this fall, and for the rest of our lives. I think that this is by far the most effective way of illustrating Christ's love for us, especially during tough times, when we need it the most. John Newton said it right, Grace is Amazing, and can save us all.

-Josh