Responding to Grace

I haven’t blogged in such a long time. I miss it. What I miss even more is Bible study – both by myself and in a group. Working full time and pursuing a college degree leaves little time for anything else. Thankfully, God speaks to us in many ways and can use anything or anyone to illustrate a point. Many times, He has used my college experiences to clarify a Biblical concept. Today’s lesson was sweet, and even though a ton of homework awaits, I have to take time to write about this – if for no other reason than to make sure it penetrates deep within my own spirit.

Grace. We Christians love that word. As well we should, for without it we have no salvation and no relationship with God. Today, in my tax accounting class, I was the recipient of grace. The professor handed us our graded homework from the last class. I did not do as well as I had thought. Out of 65 problems, I had made 9 mistakes. Some of them were silly, minor mistakes and some revealed that I did not understand the material. Seeing all those red x marks was depressing. However, if I showed you the front page of my homework, you would never know that I had made 9 mistakes. The professor had written across the top of the paper: “100% Nice Job”! Nice job? If I did the math, I should have an 86%, which to me is not a nice job. On the books, however, I have 100%.
The professor explained that because this is an accelerated class and we are learning much of the material on our own, all she is looking for is to see that we tried. She said that she can tell who gave it their all and who slacked off and if she could see the effort, we were given a perfect score. Wow.

During the break, I was chatting with some fellow students and we were talking about the work we are currently doing. Several of the students made comments saying that we didn’t have to try to get it right. They said that as long as we wrote something down, she would give us the credit and therefore we did not need to try so hard. Ouch. I am so glad she did not hear these students, though I doubt she would be surprised. We were given a precious gift – the gift of grace – and some decided to abuse it.

It is not difficult to see the spiritual parallel here. No matter how well we may try to live our lives, the Bible tells us that all have sinned. It says there are none righteous, no not one. No human being, with the exception of God in the flesh (Jesus) has ever gotten a 100% grade on their lives. We have made mistakes. We have failed. We have sinned. God, in His great love for us, sent Jesus to die a horrific death on the cross. In other words, Jesus paid a much higher price (His blood) to extend grace than my accounting professor has paid. Yet, some choose to abuse even the grace of God. How is God’s grace abused? The best answer to that question was given by one of North Way’s pastors in a blog of his own. His blog was written during a mission trip and he explained what God had shown him while overseas. He wrote “I cease trying to work out my salvation with fear and trembling and I begin to arrogantly rely on God’s grace.” Those words have wrecked me time and again.

Now let me be clear. As Christians, we absolutely have to rely on God’s grace. We have no choice. We are incapable of getting it 100% right. We can try and try and try but we will still miss the mark. However, it is the adverb in my pastor’s statement that turns a necessary thing into a horrible thing. It becomes horrible when we ARROGANTLY rely on God’s grace. When we decide to stop trying and just live our lives any old way we want to because well, its okay, God will give me grace… that is when we become arrogant.

Let’s go back to tax accounting for one moment. When I was handed that paper containing 9 mistakes but showing 100%, I had two responses. First was gratitude. I was beyond grateful for my professor’s extension of grace. My second response is that I want to do better next time. I want to try harder. I want to give it all I’ve got. Even though I know that grace will continue to be there, I do not want to rely on it. I don’t want to see 9 mistakes on my next assignment. I am sure I am going to make some, but I will feel bad when I do. To slack off on my work because I know the professor has promised grace would be poor character on my part. It shows a lack of gratitude and a sense of entitlement. To me, the more gratitude I have, the more effort I would want to give to get it right. My effort is one way I can thank her for her grace.

In our Christian lives, this concept can best be illustrated by picturing two kinds of rafts. The way that grace is intended to be viewed is as a life preserver. If we can picture ourselves trying desperately to swim but drowning in our sin, Jesus has thrown us a life preserver. All we have to do is grab onto it and we will be saved – we will not drown and die in our sins. The appropriate response to Jesus for extending that life preserver is gratitude and life lived to the best of our ability. The inappropriate response is to cease seeing His grace as a life preserver and begin to use it as lounge raft. You know, one of those inflatable rafts that you lay on in the pool while sipping cocktails and occasionally gliding our pinky toes in the water.

God never intended for His grace, purchased with the blood of His Son, to become a lounge raft. I am thankful that He used my professor to remind me that grace is a gift and gratitude is the appropriate response. I pray that He helps me to keep my heart soft so that I desire to swim well and give it my best and rely on that life preserver when my efforts fail and I begin to drown.

There is a 100% next to my name in my professor’s grade book. More importantly, my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Both because of grace. May I always respond well.