It's somewhat of an irony, this thing called grace. As Christians, we proclaim that we are saved by grace. Yet in my experience, if I ask folks who go to church to tell me what that means, they can't explain it. They search for words but struggle to find them. Some mention love but but can't expound on it. Some only know grace as a short prayer before mealtime. Is it then any wonder that we find ourselves struggling when it come to dealing with the "stuff" in our lives?
We find ourselves in a culture that is all about cinching up the belt and getting after it. Work hard and we will be successful. Do this, do that, so we can earn ourselves a position in society. If we just work hard enough we will achieve our dreams. Before long, it becomes all about what we've done, our merits as a result of working hard. Yet..........people still find themselves feeling miserable, many having little, if any, self worth. So much for success and accomplishments.
I've just come off of another Walk to Emmaus weekend, a 72 hour period of spiritual formation that helps persons come face to face with God's grace. And as always the case, there are those who have confused "working to earn God's love" with the reality that God's love is offered to them as a "gift", independent of anything they could ever do or say to earn it. Scripture reminds us that we are saved by grace, through faith, lest any of us should boast. That means that God loves us so much that he offers us his love, he lavishes his love upon us as a gift. He loves us because he loves us. Period. He loves us and there is nothing we can do about it. Our response to that love is not to be "good enough", or to "work hard enough" to earn it. We can never earn it. Our response is one of faith, our belief in Jesus Christ as God's gift to us as the one who has saved us from sin, forgiven us of sin, and restored us to God that we might have a right relationship with him. But we just have trouble with this gift thing. We keep wanting to work for it.
I find this over and over again. Whether it is at Emmaus or whether it is in the life of the church, people struggle to come to grips with grace. We just can't believe that God would love us in spite of us without us "doing" something worthy of his love. Again I emphasize that we can never do anything to earn God's love. We merely receive it, accept it by faith in Jesus. Sadly, we struggle to open our hearts to receive God's gift because we can't let go of the junk in our lives that have separated us from a relationship with God. Again, I see it over and over again. LET IT GO! LET IT GO! God's grace is far greater than any sin that we might have. His grace is sufficient. Our weakness can be exchanged for his strength found in his grace.
I saw this happen at Emmaus this weekend. The women on this particular walk were confronted with God's amazing grace. They came to a realization that God DOES love them, in spite of them and their circumstances. And as a result, they were able to let go of some things that only God could remove. it was not about working for his love, for his forgiveness, or for his acceptance. It was about receiving and experiencing God's unconditional love.
If we are going to be the church that proclaims God's grace, it would behoove us to understand what that means and then to live it out in the midst of a community of men and women, boys and girls, who so desperately need to know that God loves them. It's not about works or merit. It's all about God's grace. Grace! Still Amazing!!
