••••••• INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHTS •••••••

The Condemnation of Grace

Grace has always been controversial for believers who see their Christian faith as more of an experience they have to endure. From my experience I often see people who are lacking in joy also lacking in grace. They are like two children, brother and sister, who irritate one another, but have to hold hands when they cross the street.

I have difficulty with someone who is miserable in their faith journey and high in their spirit of condemnation.

I guess that doesn’t sound very gracious, does it? Let me explain, hopefully not just to justify myself.

When the Body of Christ emphasizes a repentant heart instead of a groveling-in-the-dirt torture, some people believe it shows “softness.” That might be communicated as “softness” towards the Gospel, but in reality, I believe, is a “softness” of heart.

When the Body of Christ emphasizes that people are at different points in their journey, and allows for that slack in the discipleship rope, some will translate that as showing a lack of spiritual growth. It will be interpreted in language like this: “These people are afraid to grow spiritually.” Or “These people aren’t committed to Jesus.”

It seems that if we are open to allowing people to mature in their faith, to be able to question their beliefs, to be able to discover truths at their own pace, to be able to own what others say they have to own, to be able to look at Jesus in different ways (like the Jesus of mercy, and the Jesus of justice, and the Jesus of outcast-inclusion)…if we are open to those things, then there will be the risk of being labeled soft, un-biblical, shallow, uncommitted, slackards for God.

Don’t get me wrong! I believe that we need to stand on our beliefs. I believe in Jesus the Son of God, redeemer, priestly-king, the Resurrection and the Life. I’m about as biblical in my beliefs as you can get. In fact, when someone asked me recently what my political view is I responded “scripturally adjustable”. But I also am deeply committed to walking beside people as they discover God instead of throwing a lasso around their neck and corralling them for Jesus.

Call me what you want, as I get older I’m more and more at that place in my convictions even as I’m more and more in love with my Lord.

So grace is problematic. It doesn’t have a highly-defined structure, and it can’t be contained in a highly-defined doctrinal statement. It’s more than those things. When we try to put walls around it, it seeps through. It’s representative of a gospel that Steve Brown characterizes as being a “scandalous freedom.”

Therefore, it is often the target of controversy, even when people would say they believe in it. In essence, they believe in the principle of grace, but tend to limit the forms it appears in.

It’s like believing that the last piece of pie in the pan is for anybody who wants it, but then looking with disapproval at the one who takes it…if that person happens not to be you.

I recognize that I talk and try to be grace-filled, but slither back into a revenge-filled mindset frequently. I thank God that grace was part of the equation in His desire for being in an intimate relationship with me.

I won’t grumble about it, and I definitely won’t call him “soft.”

-Read past thoughts-