[Written in 2014]
Too often people see Grace in negative terms: “Since I’m under Grace, it doesn’t matter what I do; I can do whatever I want.” There is an element of truth to this, because Grace really does mean that God loves us apart from our performance. He justifies us for his name’s sake; he accepts us because he has promised that “… whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
However, the right way to look at Grace is that it opens up possibilities. It is an offer of a relationship that can change our whole lives if we let it.
Consider the analogy of marriage. A spouse who says, “My spouse just promised to love me as long as we both are alive, through whatever happens. Therefore I can just go ahead and do whatever I want” is missing the entire point of marriage. Marriage is not aimed at exalting the solitary will. It is all about plurality, about two becoming one flesh. It’s about a level of intimacy that enables fruitfulness and joy.
Yes, it has an element of unconditionality to it. That is so the husband and wife can be secure in their oneness and so open up to be whom they really are. But that “opening up” is not “I am who I am and you just have to take it whether you like it or not,” but “Know me and let me know you. Let’s get as close as we can and do whatever it takes to make that happen.”
Of course this means “giving up your onlyness.” Of course it means letting go of yourself and your self absorption and will to power. The risk is taken because the reward is a level of satisfaction that only touching the infinite glory of Love can bring.
Even more with God. Grace invites you to a relationship that will pierce to the division of soul and spirit and reveal the thoughts and intentions of your heart. At the same time, as Paul says, “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). So God makes the same offer: Know me. Let me know you. And the result will be fullness of joy beyond your imagining.
Another way of looking at this is to see the negative attitude of which I spoke above as a way of saying, How far away from God can I get without completely losing touch with him?” How little can I invest in my relationship with …my friend, my wife, my church, my God, and still get the benefit of it. This is a sad way to look at life. It is reminiscent of the line from T. S. Eliot in “Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”:
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons….”
But the Bible tells us that ” …he gives his Spirit without measure” (John 3:34). God holds nothing back. Again we read, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). If you are holding back with God, if you are protecting yourself from him, if you are living a life as far from him as you can while still hoping he will redeem your “Get Out Of Hell Free” card, you are missing the best of what God has for you. Romans 12:1-2 says:
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Give yourself as a living sacrifice; find out what God’s will is for you and you will find that it is good, acceptable, and perfect. It is good for you; you will like it; and you will find nothing better.
“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).