The Blessing of Grace

[Mike Vande]

My blessing today is grace.

Have you ever met somebody you instantly disapproved of?

Most people are brought up by their parents to believe that some forms of behavior, language and dress are inappropriate in public. Some taboos are absorbed from our culture and society, over time becoming just as deeply ingrained as parental training. These ideas form the basis for framing our personal concepts of right and wrong. Some people decide upon and take on moral standards, learning them from others they come in contact with, or from studying the codified tenets of a religion.

We all carry an internal need for a sense of right and wrong, one we are born with. It may be misguided in some fashion until a person becomes a new creature in Christ, but everyone forms internal concepts of right and wrong, even if they don't get a "moral" upbringing from parents or a societal indoctrination from a surrounding culture. Everybody has standards of some sort, and they hold themselves and others to them.

This morning, the news said that a lawsuit, brought against a pastor and church for picketing the funerals of veterans, was won by the plaintiff. The pastor and his church intend to appeal the decision, but for now the media are happy that these people have been smacked down publicly. They aren't the only ones happy about it.

I saw this being discussed on my favorite Christian website.

Oh boy, did I want to weigh in on that discussion!

I disapprove of these people, to put it mildly. As a veteran, I am outraged by their demonstrations at vet funerals. As a Christian, it's an unbelievable to me that anyone claiming to carry the love of Jesus in their heart would do anything like that. As a member of humanity, I find the actions of these people reprehensible. I could even say that they deserve whatever happens to them.

I'm clever enough to come up with a few snide comments that would have met with general approval in the discussion. I could have even said "they deserve whatever happens to them", and it would have been accepted, because almost everybody disapproves of them. The media would be more likely to defend Al Qaeda than that group. The church at large sees them as an embarrassment, one they mostly wish would just go away. So, it's pretty easy to get people to laugh or scoff at them.

It's too easy.

Make no mistake, I want the church represented by the finest examples of Christianity that can exist. I want Billy Graham and Mother Teresa to be what comes into mind when people think of Christians. I want love and unity to be our hallmarks, so that it would be said again as it was of old, "See how these Christians love each other!" I want our culture to voluntarily accept the tenets of scripture as the standards of our society because they see Christians living them out successfully in the church. And oh glory, I want people like those protesters and their pastor, and the abortion clinic bombers, and all the other weirdos, creeps and losers that have scarred the church's face taken out of sight and locked up in an attic somewhere away from the public, like retarded children were before the mid 50's.

But in that scenario, I'd be locked up in that attic, and indistinguishable from the other weirdos, creeps and losers.

If never embarrassing God by our actions was the deciding factor on who has the right to walk around free and represent Christ to the world, there would be no choice but to lock up me and everyone else who has or might ever let Jesus down under temptation. There would be pretty darn few folks left to present Christ to the world after that.

Thankfully, God has a different take on standards. His standards are higher than any man could ever think about reaching; the absence of perfection is a slap in His face. But because of His Son, He lets imperfect people like me and those protesters walk around calling ourselves Christians.

Do I like or agree with what those people do? NO!

Do I want them to continue? NO!

Will any disparaging comment I make have any effect on that? NO!

Do I have any authority over them? NO!

It's has often seemed to me that the right thing to do with people I disapprove of is stand 'em to a brace, lay a short, sharp shock on 'em, and just keep shocking them till they bend to my will. But bending people to my will is little more than pride, and God resists the proud. He gives grace to those humble enough to leave others in His hands, at least until He tells us we have a responsibility to do something for them. For my part, I want grace from God, not resistance. So I'm leaving them and what they do in His hands, except maybe to pray for them. There are more than enough people condemning them already without me joining in.

A band called Daniel Amos wrote a song that said

"My longing; not to be a god or hero, but to change
into a tree that grows for ages, harming no one."

I pray that God in His Grace will help me to make that my longing too, and I thank Him for it.