Is Our Grace Really That Amazing?

     I know, I know, that's quite a lead-in question. How many of us know just how much our personal experiences determine our attitudes? I think we're all aware of the impact they have. Well, recently I had an encounter with someone who used the term grace in a way that caused me to call into question what we really know about real grace. We hear or use the word in so many contexts. We say grace, talk about someone being a gracious person, hear bagpipes playing Amazing Grace or describe the artful moves of a dancer as graceful. That's all well and good, but what does it mean to treat someone with grace?
     My wife is an avid runner. She loves to run mile after mile. I admire her for that because I used to be one myself. Unfortunately my body will no longer carry out the desires of my mind. So, I do the eliptical, treadmill and less joint-damaging exercises. But I digress. My point is that runners often use the miles and minutes they are gliding along the trail or highway to work out some important ideas. This morning my wife came back from her morning run and broached the subject of grace. She said that she has a clearer understanding of why some people in the public eye might have a problem with those of us who claim faith in Christ. Maybe, she said, they see a disconnect between what we profess (about God's grace) and how we treat those outside of our faith community. I hate to admit it, but she is on to something. How often have I been more concerned about the behavior of someone whose lifestyle I disagree with than their spiritual condition? Confession time: too often. My all time favorite author, Philip Yancey, talks about this situation in his devotional guide Grace Notes. In this section he is talking about the Apostles Paul and Peter and their teachings about grace. "We are to administer, or dispense God's grace, say the two apostles. The image brings to mind one of those old-fashioned atomizers women used before the perfection of spray technology. Squeeze the rubber bulb, and droplets of perfume come shooting out of the fine holes at the other end. A few drops suffice for the whole body; a few pumps change the atmosphere in a room. That is how grace should work, I think. It does not convert the entire world or an entire society, but it does enrich the atmosphere." Yancey goes on to say: "Now I worry that the prevailing image of Christians has changed from that perfume atomizer to a different spray apparatus: the kind used by insect exterminators. There's a roach! Pump, spray, pump, spray. There's a spot of evil! Pump, spray, pump, spray. Some Christians I know have taken on the task of moral exterminator for the evil-infested society around them." (p.287)
     Has anyone had that experience...from either side? I have, and from both. Here is what I know: if someone wants to truly be a dispenser of God's type of grace, it needs to be dispersed into the atmosphere without any strings attached. The definition of the kind of grace that God dispenses is: unmerited favor. That means that you can do nothing to "merit" it. You cannot earn it, so you cannot un-earn it! It is a gift. So, I need to ask myself this question: Am I an atomizer of God's grace, allowing the droplets to change the atmosphere around me? Or am I moral exterminator, using a form of grace in an attempt to eliminate the evil-infested society around me?

"For by grace you have been saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as the result of works, that no one may boast." Epesians 2:8-9

Until next time, God bless you.
Vinny