“Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more… And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less… Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love” writes Philp Yancey in his book “What’s so amazing about Grace?” I totally agree with this powerful statement, but I also struggle with this idea because it makes me and my actions frivolous and irrelevant. My ego and my fallen nature constantly look for something in me that makes me worthy of a blessing or a favor from God. I love receiving things from God, and I love it even more when it is something that I did not deserve; however deep down in my heart I am always looking for a justification or reason for why God loves me this much.
In 2006 I wrote an article entitled “Amazing Grace” for my website fuel for faith. I am taking some thoughts from that article and adding some new thoughts for our reflection here. John Lynch in his book “True Faced” writes an imaginary series of questions that God is pondering in a chapter called The New Testament “Gamble”. “We discover in the room of Grace that the almost unthinkable has happened. God has shown all of his cards. In essence, God says…What if I tell them I love them, will always love them? …That there’s nothing they can do to make my love go away? What if I tell them there are no lists? What if I tell them I don’t keep a log of past offenses, of how little they pray, how often they’ve let me down, make promises that they don’t keep?…What if I tell them they can stop beating themselves up? That they can stop being so formal, stiff, and jumpy around me?
What if I tell them they can open their eyes when they pray and still go to heaven? What if I tell them there is no secret agenda, no trapdoor? What if I tell them it isn’t about their self-effort, but about allowing me to live my life through them?…It almost feels like we’re stealing silverware from the king’s house, doesn’t it? Truth is, the king paid a lot so that you wouldn’t have to try to steal any silverware. He gets to give it to you; and other stuff so big and good and beautiful that we couldn’t even begin to stuff in into our bag of loot.” Just slowly reading each of these questions helped me reflect and adjust some of my wrong views of God and his love.
Jadon Lavik a gifted musician and a singer wrote the song “What if” in the year 2004. The first time I heard this song on the radio, I couldn’t hold my tears just listening to the powerful words of this song. A few years later I had a chance to personally meet Jadon (Playing golf with him) and told him the impact this song had on me at that stage of life. Here are the gripping words of the song:
What if I climbed that mountain
What if I swam to that shore
What if every battle was victorious then would you love me more?
What if I were everybody’s first choice
What if I went farther than before
What if I stood high above the rest then would you love me more?
What if I ignored the hand that fed me
What if I forgot to confess
What if I stumbled down that mountain then would you love me less?
What if I were everyone’s last choice
What if I mixed in with the rest
What if I failed what I passed before then would you love me less?
You say I belong to You apart from the things I do
You say I belong to You I’m in awe of why You do.
Being in awe of why God loves and how much he loves us is a gift to each of us as a child of God. Jesus said in John 1:12 – “to all who received him, those who believed in His name, he gave the right to become children of God.” As a child of God we don’t have to impress our father to maintain our status. Our highs and lows in life do not make our heavenly father love us more or less, I know that is extremely difficult for us humans to understand because in all of our other relationships we experience a shift based on our attitude, actions, performance and results.
James 1:17 says “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows”. God’s love for us does not change based on our performance, obedience, sacrifice and service as a Christian, He loves us apart from the things we do. God does care for our actions, our attitudes and our fruitfulness but he doesn’t connect his love to our obedience or sacrifice…etc. Our thoughts and actions can never impress God to love us more, but they do play a very important role in our ability to love God and walk with God.
As a Child of God our good works, our sacrifices, our ministry and our obedience is not to impress God so that he can bless us more; we do it because he first loved us and continues to love us to the maximum no matter where we are in life. Our changed life/lifestyle our ministry and our obedience is an overflow of our gratitude for what he has already done for us, not to earn his favor or get extra gold stickers in heaven. A healthy understanding of God’s grace does not make us lazy, it frees us from the fear of failing and the compulsion to perform, we joyfully live our lives enjoying and growing in grace. Jerry Bridges wrote “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace”. Recognize and enjoy God’s grace whether you are in the valley or on the mountain top.
Rev. Dr.Francis Burgula
