I think there is a continuum of understanding among believers about God’s grace. At one end are those who apparently belief in meager grace, and at the other end are those who experience abundant grace. I have been moving for years from the meager end where I was raised toward the abundant end that I long for.
My friends at the meager end live as though God has only enough grace to pull them through (barely), considering the overwhelming problems He faces. He really is stretched pretty thin, and if we don’t do some of his work for him and carry some of his burdens, He’s going to come up short. These folk tend worry about lots of things, like the security of their jobs, health, or pensions. They maintain long lists of duties in the back of their minds, believing that they must keep these check lists active in case God does run short on the grace. When they pray they ask only for small things, fearing to place too much on God’s plate. They seem to be under siege from constant difficulties at home, work, and church. They are anxious, confined, burdened, and often bewildered by the newest crop of problems that sprout around them. They’re hanging on, looking forward to joy and peace in heaven. But they are not very joyful or peaceful here.
Photo by rosevita
At the other end of the continuum are those who revel in abundant grace. They are joyful and carefree, even though–if you corner them–they will share some of the problems and difficulties that surround them. It seems that God is always doing special, unexpected things for them and through them. They are quick to share answers to prayer, and sometimes I wonder if they are not stretching things a bit! Every day in an adventure, and seems predestined to include some God things. Even when they are ill or confronted with difficult circumstances, they are still radiant, if perhaps a bit subdued. Their lives are filled with people who like to work or just spend time with them. When I am with them, I have a sense that they are being carried along by a tide, almost as a leaf in a rapid stream, but they don’t fear the present or the future.
I know, at least intellectually, that these friends that understand God’s grace as abundance are right. After all, God is infinite! His Holy Spirit in moving through the world and working in ways that we cannot imagine. He is simultaneously engaged with 7 billion people, and doesn’t even break a sweat. He is never hurried or frustrated. He takes every opportunity to approach all who are open (and the amazing secret is that he arranged that openness as well!) Yes, God is infinitely larger than this universe–and certainly this planet. We are swimming in grace from the moment we are born until we die. He’s everywhere, saturating the fabric of our world and our lives.
Grace, of course, is nothing other that the presence of God himself. Grace is only a word that stands for what happens in the presence of God. God also faces opposition. I’m not talking about the meager grace people. They will survive–barely. But arrayed against God are a very large group of folk on earth who don’t know about Him, or will not surrender to the currents of grace around them, like the thirsty fish who will not open his mouth.
This is the key point: God’s grace most often comes to us through the people we meet every day and especially those we choose to build relationships with. Meager or abundant?
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