It’s all about GRACE
Posted Jan 2022.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see”
Those are the opening lines of the most famous hymn written by John Newton in the year 1772. Since then, till today many songs were written and several books were published attempting to help us understand what’s so amazing about Grace. It’s been almost 250 years since he first penned those words, yet the word “Grace” continues to amaze the world even today.
Grasping Grace is a life long journey. As followers of Christ each one of us grow in our understanding of Grace but I believe none of us can ever fully grasp it on this side of eternity. Since the word “Grace” is used so often among Christians, many assume they understand or know Grace, but as we mature in our faith and draw closer to God we realize the shallowness and may even discover our erroneous views of Grace. Since Grace is a unique quality of God, it is a foreign concept to us humans who are born, raised and live in a world that runs on human laws, rules, regulations and expectations.
Philip Yancey in his book “What’s so amazing about Grace?” writes about a British conference on comparative religions where some experts were debating on the subject of what makes Christianity unique. Some suggested Incarnation; since other religions have different version of gods appearing in human form, it was eliminated. Others suggested the Resurrection, but some replied that other religions had accounts of return from death, so that was eliminated too. After a few hours of this debate C. S. Lewis walked into the room and asked “What’s the rumpus about?” Someone said we are discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions. In his forthright manner Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.”
Plain and simple, point-blank, no second thought, Its Grace. Nothing makes our faith more unique than Grace. Pastor Robert L. Deffinbaugh writes “The principle of grace is as fundamental to Christianity as that of justice is to Law, or love is to marriage. Christianity cannot be understood apart from an adequate grasp of grace. The doctrine of grace distinguishes Christian faith from every other religion in the world…Rightly understood and applied, the doctrine of grace can revolutionize one’s Christian life.”
Theologians have written on many occasions that the word “Grace” is one of Paul’s key words in all his epistles, and that Paul could not write of Christian faith or life apart from God’s grace. Prof Roy B. Zuck writes “The doctrine of God’s grace is central to the truths of scripture. And yet it has been misunderstood or distorted in numerous ways.” The word “Grace” sounds so sweet and simple, but it is very mysterious and difficult to understand or explain. It is easy for us humans to understand the law because it is full of black and white rules, clear list of what to do and what not to do and the consequences of our actions or choices. But Grace is the curve ball in baseball or googly in cricket, it’s unplayable and gets the best players out, that’s why many don’t like the biblical concept of “Grace”.
Pastor Steven J Cole observes “God’s grace gets polluted from two sides. On the one side grace runs counter to the way the world works, so it is difficult for us to grasp it and get used to it. The world works on merit system. If you do well in school, you get good grades and win awards…all of the world’s religions, except for biblical Christianity, work on the merit system… God’s grace also gets distorted from another side, which mistakes the grace of God for licentiousness. Many professing Christians wrongly think that God’s grace means that He gives out free passes that allow us to sin, with no consequences for disobedience. If you emphasize the need to obey God’s commandments…they call you a legalist.”
R C Sproul Jr writes: “All of us, from the most pious saint to the most egregious sinner have within us a little Pelagius. We think ourselves, even when our lips confess otherwise, essentially good. Sure, we sin, who doesn’t? But by any reasonable standard, we think in the secret places of our hearts, we’d pass the test….The little Pelagius in all of us hates both to be dependent upon others, and even more so to acknowledge that dependence.” Since Grace implies our dependence on God, natural man hates the idea of dependence or God’s unmerited favor called Grace.
“Aware of our inbuilt resistance to grace, Jesus talked about it often. He described a world suffused with God’s grace: where the sun shines on people good and bad; where birds gather seeds gratis, neither ploughing nor harvesting to earn them; where untended wildflowers burst into bloom on the rocky hillsides. Like a visitor from a foreign country who notices what the natives overlook, Jesus saw grace everywhere. Yet he never analyzed or defined grace, and almost never used the Word.” writes Philip Yancey.
The Apostle Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus that they may grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Eph 3:18). This website is a very small effort to help each of us have a better grasp of how wide and long and high and deep is God’s grace in each of our lives. My desire is not to explain the mystery of God’s grace, but to help followers of Christ to grow in our understanding and application of Grace in our daily life.
Paul says in I Cor 15:10: By the grace of God I am what I am…John Newton says “I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am.” As we journey here on earth my prayer is that we continue to grasp and grow in grace each day of our life and along with John Newton can confidently sing “Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home.”
Rev. Dr. Francis Burgula