I wonder if we haven't made grace too nice in our churches. Grace smiles a lot, it makes people feel comfortable, it's kind to people, it doesn't ever really ask anything of us. Grace makes us feel good, but it doesn't really seem to do anything truly profound. It often seems a bit weak, static, cheap even, sort of like eating creme of wheat. It tastes good, but it's not terribly interesting. And perhaps that's why the Christian church seems to be losing ground in the US. Our main thing--grace--is nice, but not compelling.
The grace demonstrated on the cross, however, is dangerous. It's reckless. It turns everything upside down. It changes the status quo. It's dynamic, always doing something life-giving. It revolutionizes life. For grace is all about our tame-less creator reaching down to us--lost, sinful, rebellious, broken people--to befriend us, to forgive us--really forgive us. To love us unconditionally. To let us know that he believes in us. To live in us by the power of the Spirit of Jesus. That kind of grace isn't simply nice. It's transformational.
The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus shows a scandalous side of grace as it breaks all expectations. It shows us a God who does not expect or demand that we come to him, but instead a God who always makes the first move toward us. That kind of grace is irresistible. Drink of it and we'll never be the same.
I'm convinced that that revolutionary, scandalous, reckless grace is precisely what culture yearns for. Rather than trying to bottle it up, it should be exploding from our churches and our lives as the Spirit of grace lives in and through us.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment