There are two errors about grace. Both are errors about how vast, wide, and all-consuming the grace of God is.The first error is the unfortunate belief that grace is for everyone...EXCEPT ME. This error seems to suggest that the unwarranted favor and boundless love of God, a love that meets us in spite of ourselves, is good for everyone, works for everyone, is given to everyone...but ME.
"I am too far outside the scope of grace."
"I've done too much, failed too much, let down too many, struggled too often, slipped up too many times, and am too insignificant, and I ALONE fall outside that vast grace of God.
The second error is similar to the first. It seems to suggest that grace is for ME or for US (any randomly, narrowly or arbitrarily defined crowd) but not for THEM. For ME/US grace is a delight. For THEM grace is leniency, clemency, or softness.
"I know I need grace and I'm thankful for that grace, but THEY need to be held accountable, dealt with, treated in a way that constantly reminds THEM of the magnitude of their actions."
Even when grace happens for THEM, THEY are on grace probation, the terms of which can be withdrawn at any time.
Grace is only grace if it is grace for ALL, for ME and for THEM. Grace left in our hands has boundaries and limitations, divyed out according to our fickle categories. It goes "this far" and no further. Grace left in the hands of God transcends all boundaries. That's what makes it grace. Grace is the posture of God towards ALL. It is His loving, forgiving, patient, compelling, sustaining disposition to all people at all times. Grace is the limitless reserve of God's favor and good will toward us.
Grace doesn't begin with stipulations and regulations, but with the hopefulness that ALL will embrace it as gift. Grace is God's arms flung wide open in expectant embrace. It is His readiness to call ALL, to love ALL, to forgive ALL, to rescue ALL. Grace is by nature God's inclusive design. Grace makes space for ALL. Grace is God's "yes" to us. It is God's, "You've been invited in."
But with any gift lay the invitation. "Will you accept it?" Will you embrace grace, for YOU, but not only for YOU, but for ALL?
I remember a scripture that says God lavished His grace upon us. It reminds me of a trip to Splashdown in East Peoria. A huge bucket is filled with water continuously and it dumps thousands of gallons of cool water onto guests at the waterpark. When it dumps it soaks everything in a wide area. That's how I think God's grace is. It covers me, cleanses me, and comforts me. I just have to choose to walk in it: like going under the big bucket.
ReplyDeleteI remember a scripture that says God lavished His grace upon us. It reminds me of a trip to Splashdown in East Peoria. A huge bucket is filled with water continuously and it dumps thousands of gallons of cool water onto guests at the waterpark. When it dumps it soaks everything in a wide area. That's how I think God's grace is. It covers me, cleanses me, and comforts me. I just have to choose to walk in it: like going under the big bucket.
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