This is an episode in how I let excitement overtake me and actually forget to read the thing properly.
I was reminded about it when I watched a clip of a preacher on his ‘preachy vibe’. (You know the one where he wishes he had a church in here and he doesn’t hear anyone but he’ll keep on preaching.) So he was highlighting among other things how grace wasn’t just the unmerited favour of God, but it was also power – power to talk right, power to walk right, power to pray right, power to live right, etc. etc.
Now this was not the first time I had heard such a thing, although the first time I had it was in a manner not so exciteable but equally as passionate. At first it came across like a bolt from the blue. This was a revelation. The grace of God is a force. It is an energy wave coursing through the galaxy leaving His stamp of presence where it goes. Surely this was more than the simplistic, rather personalised concept of unmerited favour.
I felt this way for a while until I actually at that ‘simplistic’ concept again. Often when conversing on unmerited favour the focus is on ‘unmerited’. We did not earn it, we could never earn it and indeed we did not deserve it in any shape or form. What’s so amazing about grace is what we actually deserve and what we actually get. This aspect of the concept is a point for great praise and thanksgiving to the God of grace.
The concept however is incomplete if the focus remains on ‘unmerited’. After alll what is the ‘it’ that we did not deserve? It is far more than material blessings.
A helpful way for me to appreciate this ‘simplistic’ concept better was to reflect on the relationship between a parent and his child. From the time the baby is conceived in the womb to the moment that child reaches an age of responsibility, he is the recipient of an incredible amount of blessings. The incubator environment of his mother’s womb to aid in that gestative developmental stage. There is the provision of food, clothing, bathing and holistic nurturing he will benefit from in his first five years of dependence. Then there is the room to blossom and develop through rebuke and encouragement he shall receive from his parents. All of this he will receive without earning it. All this he shall enjoy having done nothing in and of himself to deserve it. All this which is in itself or requires the exercise of power in love.
Making the connection to us, God is our Father who does all these things for His children – the things, or the ‘it’ is His favour. The favour is force, it is energy, it is love power. After all when I ask someone for a favour what I am asking for is the process for an outcome I am unable to deliver at the moment. The process is the power/force/energy and the outcome is the thing I receive even if that thing is power itself.
All to say that in defining grace and celebrating grace as the unmerited favour of God, before suggesting that there is more to it, think it through – do yourself that favour.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
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