Working for Grace

 "I just need enough grace till I can get my act together..."

No sooner had those words left my mouth than I realized that I had a really faulty concept of grace.  Let me rephrase that:  I knew the definition of grace, but it hadn't penetrated my reality.  So I decided to reflect a little bit on that statement and its implications.

God's Grace

The Bible clearly portrays grace as a free gift, no strings attached... unless you want to count the step of accepting His grace, which sometimes is the hardest part.  A quick study of this concept of grace yielded these results (I understand that this is just a brief glimpse as truly the entire Bible is filled with the story of God's grace!):

Right after the famous "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" verse in Romans 3:23, the writer goes on to say "and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

"And if [God's people are chosen] by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace."  Rom. 11:6

" I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"  Gal. 2:21

And of course the famous Eph. 2:8-9:  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast."

The Rub

So if I know what the Bible says about grace, where did I get an idea that I had to earn grace?  The problem is, we humans are so used to conditional grace.  Forgiving someone who sins against us 7 times.  The people in our lives have a certain number of chances to get their act together and if they fail, they're done.  Lives used up.  You lose.  People must show that they are making a good effort.  Each year must be better than the next.  Constant improvement and productivity is the standard.  And unfortunately, the standard that we require of others is one that we are incapable of sustaining ourselves.

Implications

The Bible speaks about this dichotomy of needing grace but refusing it to others.  And it's not pretty. Matt 6:14-15:  "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."  In other words, don't hold people to a standard that you wouldn't want God to apply to you.