Di Bassinga Diaries: An Ode to Grace

Imagine walking through life with no freedom to be human; that is to be endlessly falling short, endlessly imperfect. What if God gave the punishment out, death, as it were truly deserved? Even if the counter started at zero each day, it's inevitable that we would, in small ways or large, add to the total; we'd each be guilty of shortcoming and sin because there is always going to be a distance between man's love, justice, compassion, charity, gratitude, conduct, reasoning (and so much more) and God's.

Only God is perfect, and only we deserve the punishment for so consistently wronging Him, but this isn't the whole story. There's an aspect of the Gospel which is vital to understand, but doing so is no easy task. It's a piece which we'd be utterly hopeless without, and yet it's one that we so often ignore. The most beautiful part, though, is that, even in our ignorance, God continues to renew this gift of grace. God's taken care of His part of this deal, His grace flows in measures which we could never comprehend, but how often do we extend this gift of grace to ourselves and to those around us? And how often do we make proper use of it?

What is Grace?

I like to think of grace as a cushion. It's the distance between our shortcomings and death (spiritual and physical, often). It's an opportunity to keep moving forward despite our constant sin and wrongdoing. Among the most important characteristics of grace, though, is that fact it's the source of our salvation. Ephesians highlights this well:

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked...But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:1-2a, 4-10)

Grace is all that and so much more: it reigns through righteousness (Romans 5:20-21), it's sufficient for our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), and it's abundant (John 1:16-17). This is fairly clear. What grace isn't is what, in my experience, makes it a bit more difficult to grasp.

What Grace Isn't

Grace, abundant as it is, is not meant to be abused or used as a get-out-of-jail-free card. After highlighting the beauty of God's grace through Christ's sacrifice, contrasted to the sin of Adam ("as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men" - Romans 5:18), he goes on to say this:

"What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:1-2)

Rather than looking at grace as an infinite license to live our lives "freely" and without the standard God places on us, we're meant to accept grace as we continue toward Christ and His way. It's apart of the justification process. As we become more like Christ we will inevitably mess up—more than a few times; and rather than stopping everything and mourning the end of our relationship with Christ, we're given license to get up and keep moving closer.

How Should We Relate to Grace?

What I've learned about grace, through reading and in practice, is that it is supposed to be a source—of action, of strength, and of peace. This is what the Word has to say about that:

Grace Begets Action

"Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace which will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:13)

"The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

The first of these verses is sandwiched in between two separate sections of Scripture (in the ESV, at least): "Born Again to a Living Hope" and "Called to Be Holy". The former speaks of our inheritance in Christ, "undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [us]…" We're told of the trials which will come as we move through our journey, our pursuit of righteousness and salvation. The latter instructs us on how we ought to conduct ourselves as a result of this new hope that we have, and of the work that those who've come before us have done on our behalf (1 Peter 1:10-12). And the bridge between those passages tells us that we are to look to grace as we prepare ourselves for action. The bridge between us and the outcome of our faith is grace-led action.

In the next passage, Paul is preparing the Corinthians to welcome some foreigners, from Macedonia, with gifts. Having just encouraged them to give as they see fit, "not reluctantly or under compulsion," he urges further that God can make grace "abound" (exist abundantly). This is seemingly meant to further encourage the Corinthians as they prepare their gifts. It seems that grace is the key to people having "all sufficiency in all things at all times," that they can act confidently in this matter.

Grace Begets Strength

"You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also." (2 Timothy 2:1-2)

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, my power made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I boast all the more gladly of my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

On top of action is the fact that grace also provides a source of strength. It's like grace providing strength for action that we see in these passages. How exactly could grace provide strength? you might ask. In my experience, it's a matter of peace and comfort, coming from grace, providing a strength in character; it's a courage which comes from the security provided by that cushion. The Lord provides such a freedom that it's actually to our benefit to admit our shortcomings (as numerous as they are) rather than to try and hide from them. We can be vulnerable and confident in the fact that God gives us freedom to be human as we grow closer to Him and as we step closer to our final days, after which we're reunited with Him for eternity.

Grace is a concept with which I've been wrestling for the last few months. As I've grown closer to the Lord, it's been hard not to dwell on the gap that exists between man and God. Of course, Christ died to close that gap; but one can't help but feel awe toward an all-powerful and all-loving God. As I've grown aware of my many shortcomings, it's felt natural to dwell on them and attempt to approach God as the righteous judge and ruler that He is. This isn't inherently wrong, but His grace calls me His son, and it does the same (son or daughter) to all who've accepted Christ as Lord and Savior.

As we continue in life with Christ and with the people around us, it's vital to our health and to the nature of our relationships that we be people who can properly give and receive grace. We can't expect perfection, we're simply too far gone from that. What we can expect is that the Lord is working inside each and every one of us, and that He loves us all the same. And in that we can find peace. Before you try to go through life bare-knuckling your way through, make a habit of giving yourself grace. It'll become something of a superpower.

Be blessed.

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