Last year I spent a month studying the Grace of God, as part of the CS Lewis Institute’s Fellows Program (highly recommend!) At the beginning of the month I was not very interested in studying the topic of grace. Although it is, of course, the basis of salvation though Jesus, I simply did not think it would be a very interesting or helpful topic. I had supposed this was a relatively simple issue which I was already well aware of. I was quite mistaken! The study left me with a lot of questions, and a desire to meditate further on the grace of God and how it impacts our lives. My reflections after completing the month’s assignments are below.
Grace is a somewhat difficult term to define, when you think about it. Essentially, it comes down to favor being shown, where disfavor is merited. It is undeserved favor – not only when favor is undeserved but when disfavor is deserved. When we speak of God’s grace to us, it is that he has shown us favor when we deserved his disfavor. That is a pretty overwhelming thought – and humbling. The Bible also uses the word “grace” to describe the help of the Holy Spirit. This is related to the former definition, in that God’s favor is expressed to us in the form of the Holy Spirit’s help and influence over us.
There were a few aspects of grace which stood out to me. First of all, while God’s grace is given freely to us as his children, we do not always receive or enjoy his grace. This may be because we have a wrong view of God. Rather than seeing him as a father who loves us, and who freely gives us his favor, we may think of him more as a master who withholds grace because of our demerits. In his book Transforming Grace, Jerry Bridges comments that we sometimes view God as “the God who demands the last ounce of work out of his people and then pays them poorly” (pg. 54). I relate to this perception of God, although of course I know it is not accurate.
Juanita Ryan discusses in her article Seeing God in New Ways: Recovering from Distorted Images of God, even if we have correct beliefs about God, the way we envision him drives our interactions with and attitudes toward him.
It is true, God’s grace is often given in ways we would not choose and do not understand (as Peter experienced with the “thorn in his flesh”). When enduring hardship, we must believe that it comes from the hand of God, and believe that his hand is that of a loving father who cares for us and disciplines us in wisdom. I was moved by Bridges’ statement, “even though He is disciplining you, He cares for you…He shares your pain…in all your distress He too is distressed” (pg. 214).
Another reason we may not perceive or enjoy God’s grace is because we hold ourselves to what we feel we deserve, based on our performance and merits/demerits. In our pride, we may feel entitled to something more or different than what we receive. Conversely, in our shame we may feel guilty for not deserving what we have been given. Bridges addresses this dichotomy in the parable of the landowner (Mathew 20:1-16). The workers who had labored all day felt entitled to more than they received, because they compared their efforts to the men who had labored only an hour. On the other hand, if the men who labored an hour received the full day’s wage with guilt because it was undeserved, they would not have experienced the joy of grace freely given. We must guard against believing our work (whether held to the standards of others, ourselves, or even those in scripture) dictates the measure of God’s grace to us. It is grace, given through the Holy Spirit, which enables us to live up to the standards of Scripture, and to walk in the good works God has purposed for us.
As a final observation, living in acceptance of God’s grace changes us, and changes how we treat others. For one, pride is opposed to grace. It is a humbling thing to realize the extent of our sin and yet receive free pardon and favor from God. Stuart McAlpine says “when we learn we please Him, we will be free of vanity”. If our value before God is outside our own merit, how can we take pride in ourselves? In this same vein, living under grace removes our spirit of envy. And to sum this up, “we cannot exercise love unless we are experiencing grace” (Bridges, pg. 148).
Wonderful commentary on grace Abby. Truly it is bestowed not on the “entitled” who , like the parable, finds us taking pride in our work and comparing it to others and their labors.
Instead it is a gift from God to not only the unmerited, but even the meritless . This is of course the wonder of how grace can strike our pride, encourage a selflessness toward others and rid us of unnecessary cares about success, vanity and the very entitlement that rots the soul and saps the spirit. Thanks for the reminder and encouragement!