Grace is this: the relationship (yes, relationship) God wants to have with you, personally. This holds true no matter where any of us may be in the practice of our faith. Whether we trust God or not, or even if we don’t believe in God at all — that does not stop God reaching out for us. That is Grace. It is so easy to get wrapped up in our personal selves and our self-made gods (whether we call them that or not). The one who created us in the first place is the one it is so easy to forget or deny. Who needs you anyway, God? Surly not me.
It is a fact that the creator God does not answer directly today’s pressing issues. And maybe there is a reason why. If God took over control, then we are that much less free. What happens in the world is not caused by God, one way or the other. We might have an easier time of life if that were true, but we would not be free. And I believe God intends us to live freely; to make our own decisions. Grace is the promise that God will walk with us, be there, when darkness falls. Since it is true that God chooses not to control everything, chooses to “back off,” than we come to believe that we must be strong and assertive to make sure it is “my way and not the highway.” I often feel like that. So it is easy to cast aside the One who wants a relationship with us and turn instead to those self-created gods we like to believe can win the war for us. “If God won’t or can’t control things, then I will find or make a god that will.”
There are no gods, self-made or otherwise that want in to your life. Just because. That is grace. “You may want me out of your life, but I still want in.” That’s grace. Just because.
Next week I’ll share some reflections on what this means in the way we live in relationship with others, particularly those we do not like or who cannot stand us.
