("God’s grace is usually defined as undeserved favor. Grace cannot be earned; it is something that is freely given. We count on God’s grace and the bridge he built in our relationship with him." - Compassion International)
What if we lived in a world without grace? - by Pastor Scott Marshall
At Christmas, our minds turn toward gifts. We think about what will be added to our lives via consumer goods. And people of faith—Christians specifically—think about what it means that Jesus the Christ-child was added to the human story.
Our minds turn to the additions we want and hopefully the additions we need.
But try a thought experiment. Consider what life would be like without the addition of Jesus to our world.
The unique contribution of Christian faith to the landscape of human striving—religious and secular—is grace. It’s root meaning is “gift.” Grace is the shocking addition to human thought that what we do not deserve, have not earned, and did not pay for is actually what makes life worth living. It’s the assertion that gift is at the heart of all meaning and value and purpose. God runs the world on gift energy. This is the Christian story of grace.
At Christmas, when we hear the line from Isaiah written and sung—“Unto us a child is born”—grace is what is being communicated. Isaiah is not telling us about a child. He is telling us about The Child who brings grace into the human story.
Peter Drucker, the brilliant father of modern management, became a Christian later in life. When someone questioned his decision, “How could someone of your education and intellect become a Christian?”
He reportedly responded,
“Who else has grace?”
So try the thought experiment. How would the human heart fare if grace were not true?
Here’s a list.
• Forget finding forgiveness ever again. From your spouse. From your kids or a co-worker. A business partner. Or God. In fact, prepare for war, because forgiveness won't happen again on any level.
• Hold grudges, because that’s how you make people pay. Don’t forget what they did. Get them back.
• It really is a dog-eat-dog world, so make sure to never slip up again.
• Don't be late for work again, ever. In fact, never miss a deadline again.
• And don't miss a credit payment since grace periods are long gone.
• Forget upgrades at the airport, in a hotel, on a trip, or during a night out—gratis is out. Life’s little kindnesses don’t exist.
• If you have roommates, don't expect them to do the dishes when it was your turn and you got caught at work and couldn't get them done.
• Parents are now enforcers, drill sergeants, and performance monitors, not guides and healers. There is no time for healing, play, and the cultivation of delight and joy in a human being, just preparation for performance in the aforementioned dog-eat-dog world.
• Forget going to traffic court and getting leniency from the judge.
• Make sure the blame never sticks to you—for anything, or else. It has to be someone else’s fault. Gird yourself for endless arguments.
• Your performance is now the sole measure of your value and worth in life. Do not screw up.
In other words, if grace isn’t true, brace yourself. Endless misery is now your lot.
Anyone paying attention reads that list and thinks, “butI know people like that.” We all do. We are them, have been them, or know them. Here’s the Christmas embodiment of that list: Scrooge.
What makes someone operate as if “real life” is driven by this graceless list is piercingly simple: You cannot give what you have not received.
Even if you are religious.
Do you recognize it’s entirely possible to know grace as an idea, talk about it as a concept, agree with it as a reality, but not welcome it into your story and responses?
Without grace, life feels very Scrooge-like.
Charles Dickens brought Scrooge to life to make a gospel point. We need grace to live.
Scrooge was Scrooge because he did not see there was gift—grace—in the world. He is an annual reminder of what life would be like if grace weren’t true.
And why does the Scrooge story move us so? Why does it get retold and remade year after year? Because of how it affirms what we intuitively know.
Grace is true.
It is by grace you are saved, not by works, lest anyone should boast. Ephesians 2:8
Pastor Scott Marshall, Wichita First Church of the Nazarene