His Grace
Posted by Martha & Greg Singleton , Tuesday, April 7, 2009 2:50 PM
I was feeling pretty smug about what I had decided to teach in our Sunday School class. We’re spending the next couple of months discussing “churchspeak” – those words we hear so much but we might not really know their relevance in our family, our work and in all our day-to-day living. I figured I knew most of the definitions and applications of these words since I, too, had heard them all my life. I was confident I had it all covered.
The first word I chose was “grace.” It’s a good word, even though it’s a bit difficult to fully understand. But, I already knew all the offerings from Vine’s Expository Dictionary, all the technical explanations of “grace,” so I was off to a flying start. As He as often done before, though, God had another idea that He wanted to share with me. Although I knew the meaning of “grace,” I needed to be reminded of the reality of it.
It took something very unexpected to bring “grace” from my head to my heart. As I often do, I was discussing with my son, Matt, where I was headed in my writing and teaching. He asked if I had ever heard U2’s song “Grace”. I was vaguely familiar with it, but only for my musical enjoyment and not my theology. I re-listened to it, though, and found myself confronted by grace as it’s supposed to appear in real life. It seemed that Bono had taught me what I was planning to teach my Sunday School class. Imagine that!
As I began to read the “grace” settings in Scripture in a new fresh way, I was overwhelmed at the power contained within that word.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14-17 (NIV)
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
Psalm 84:11 (NKJV)
Then, I began to see what grace means to me, personally.
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”
Romans 5:1-2 (NIV)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:23 (NIV)
But, probably the greatest impact of all was when I was reminded of my responsibility as a recipient of God’s grace. Thank God, His grace is free. It has no limits, and the very nature of grace is that there’s nothing that I can do to earn it. But, I am obligated to give back the same measure of grace that God gives me. And that’s where I’m humbled and convicted.
Just this week, a friend was treated unfairly on his job, and I wanted so much for that supervisor to suffer for it. On another occasion, I shut down when I should have responded to help someone who was in need. I confronted my own family members, whom I love so much, with a nasty “there-you-go-again” attitude. Those things aren’t graceful, and they certainly don’t reflect in the least God’s grace that has been extended to me.
What would “grace” look like in my relationships, or in my reactions to situations with which I’m confronted? How can I bring “grace” into settings around me that are ugly and Godless? How can I make “grace” more than just a word?
For a book that we’re writing, Martha and I had a chance to interview Lindsay, a young middle school teacher in the Bronx. Most of her students, because of the conditions they live in, are hopeless. Often, they react to their situations in very destructive and hurtful ways. But Lindsay understands that God has called her to love them anyway. She knows she must bring grace into those kids’ lives.
“On the first day of school,” she said, “the first thing I tell them is ‘I’ve been thinking about you all summer. I love you already. You may not believe this, but you can’t earn my love. You can make straight A’s and have perfect behavior all year, or you can get detention three times a week, and I’m going to love you the same.’ And then I spend all year trying to prove it.”
That is grace extended. That’s what the word really means.
