Image ganked from here. Like the rest of you, ( I am sure), I had been sleeping on Christian Siriano but no more. I saw his runway look for Payless and I cannot wait until I can find a Payless store that features his new line...AB-SO-LUTELY Fantabulous!!! I die!!!Now before we move right along, my latest pet peeve is people putting up their bra colors or where they put their bags as status messages on FB to "promote Breast cancer awareness". How in the HELL does provocatively suggesting where you put your bag educate anyone about the real threat of breast cancer and its devastating impact? Yes its all fun and cute IF and only IF it actually motivates more people to go get checked. What I fear, however, is that people are merely blindly copying the status messages and continuing in their ignorance. Not a good look. Ok so now I have that off my chest (no pun intended)...
Moving right along, so today's topic is on Grace and Faith. Yes I know it is a deviation from my norm, I do not think I have written anything from a theological /religious perspective on here yet. If you want to think, read on. If you are not interested, keep it moving and come back later for some more fluffy goodness.
My topic today was provoked by today's reading and reflection which you can find here. Which lead me to think about Grace and Faith. What is grace and what does it enable us to do? According to Augustine, In De gratia Christi 25, 26: "For not only has God given us our ability and helps it, but He even works [brings about] willing and acting in us; not that we do not will or that we do not act, but that without His help we neither will anything good nor do it"—"Non solum enim Beus posse nostrum donavit atque adiuvat, sed etiam 'velle et operari operatur in nobis' non quia nos non volumus, aut nos non agimus, sed quia sine ipsius adiutorio nec volumus aliquid boni nec agimus."
He goes on to make the point that, "What then is the merit of man before grace by which merit he should receive grace? Since only grace makes every good merit of ours, and when God crowns our merits, He crowns nothing else but His own gifts." "Quod est ergo meritum hominis ante gratiam, quo merito percipiat gratiam, cum omne bonum meritum nostrum non in nobis faciat nisi gratia et cum Deus coronat merita nostra, nihil aliud coronet quam munera sua?"Letters 194:3:6
So for Augustine, Grace emanates from God, it is nothing we own or deserve. We are, however, able to do many things through this grace we are gifted with.
Bonhoeffer, is probably known more when one talks about Grace because of his idea of Grace and more specifically CoSTLY grace. What was he going on about? Costly Grace is the privilege of taking the cross for others. Bonhoeffer introduces the major issue with our world today. According to him, the real trouble is that the pure Word of Jesus has been overlaid with so much human ballast – burdensome rules and regulations, false hopes and consolations that it has become extremely difficult to make a genuine decision for Christ. Let's think about it this way, if Jesus could draw the prostitutes and tax men to dine and talk to him, then why does our modern Gospel try to separate us? Jesus did not come for the saved he came for the sinners so lets focus on the sinners rather than rejoicing with the “saved”.
For Bonhoeffer, he sees this grace as costly because it is like a treasure hidden in the field, it is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. It is costly because it cost God the life of his Son, and what has cost God so much cannot be cheap for us. It is the sanctuary of God, the living word, which he speaks as it pleases him. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him, it is grace because Jesus says: “my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.
So in the simplest form possible Grace is from God and enables us to live as he would like for us to live. It is costly because Jesus paid the ultimate down payment for our sins by having himself put to death. A shameful death at that, death on a tree. Galatians 3 says, "Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Wow right? He not only came and ate with the prostitutes, the tax collectors but he made sure to die the most demeaning way possible, now if he was able to do this then what is our problem seeking the grace which he is more than willing to give if we ask?
Now what is faith and where does it fit into this equation?Let's start off with what Lewis says about Faith in Mere Christianity. For Lewis, there are three theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity. (Pg 129) (Faith) in first sense means belief accepting or regarding as true the doctrines of Christianity. Now faith in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. Christ offers something for nothing: He even offers everything for nothing. In a sense, the whole Christian life consists in accepting that very remarkable offer. But the difficulty is to reach the point of recognizing that all we have done and can do is nothing. (Pg 147) So faith is consistent, it is free (based on what grace enables) and it is redemptive. God gives us grace and we choose to believe and grow, simple. I do not know how much more simpler we can make this.
In terms of faith, our lack of standing for something (anything at all) is making us move for nothing at all. Bonhoeffer is deeply troubled by the lack of faith he sees in his society (and we should all be worried too). According to him, we have to examine the societies we live in. Are these societies working to promote the Gospel, or like Hitler's Germany, are they trying to rewrite history or write our present without God? In this era of our culture leading our Gospel “Nothing less than a return to the Christian faith can save” (p. 27) our societies. The good message of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life is that Western Civilization must not die. It will be born again to youth.(p. 33)
Throughout the New testament we have repeated occasions where Jesus shows how through faith much can be achieved. In Matthew we have such an instance when in speaking about Faith Jesus says, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." That is how litle faith we need to make major things happen in our lives. It really bothers me (another pet peeve alert) when I see people quoting the Bible in the Facebook status and make it like a competition. Everyone wants you to see how much they know or how they have been able to come up with something smart...I am not judging, or at least I am not trying to. It just saddens me because I feel like they are cheapen the very important lessons that can be gleaned from the Bible. If you are writing all those and truly believing and practicing what you are posting then more grease to your elbows. I am more worried about the followers who just do this because they saw someone else do it and it looks fashionable to be "a Bible quoting Christian". But I digress.
Now as I mentioned earlier, this post was all based on today's reflection but that reflection triggered something deeper in me. I have been through a lot these past months, weeks etc. I kept believing as the people around me did that things would get better. However, when things did start to get better, I refused to believe they were actually getting better. Instead I started to look for where things could and would go wrong. I was telling myself I had grace and faith but I was living with fear. I was being typically human, having/making back up plans etc. etc. with the excuse that it seems to easy, they said it would, it should be harder.
That is what this reflection made me realize today. I am living as if I am unworthy of the free grace God chooses to send into my life. My human mind is trying to ration why I should be blessed and is telling me its a fluke, God is going to realize he sent the wrong grace and blessings to the wrong person and take it away. My plan was to enjoy it for now but plan for trouble times (which I believed were coming soon). Pretty human of me right?
Today after realizing this, I refuse to do that anymore. I am going to thank God for bringing me here today, giving me the blessings (the many many many blessings he has given me) I am truly unworthy but then again are any of us truly ever worthy of the love of God? It is a gift I embrace and I am going to give thanks for because he has seen it fit to give me, his unworthy servant the many graces I enjoy. :) If you are like me and God is blessing you right now in any way at all, don't be like I used to be and wonder when it is going to end. Enjoy it and give him thanks for it all. He is with you in the bad times and blesses you with the good time lets embrace them all. I thank God for my friends, my work (no matter how part time or how temporary), my amazing family especially my parents and for my God fearing man :) I am blessed and from today I will live like I truly believe that.
So in the simplest form possible Grace is from God and enables us to live as he would like for us to live. It is costly because Jesus paid the ultimate down payment for our sins by having himself put to death. A shameful death at that, death on a tree. Galatians 3 says, "Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might be extended to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Wow right? He not only came and ate with the prostitutes, the tax collectors but he made sure to die the most demeaning way possible, now if he was able to do this then what is our problem seeking the grace which he is more than willing to give if we ask?
Now what is faith and where does it fit into this equation?Let's start off with what Lewis says about Faith in Mere Christianity. For Lewis, there are three theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity. (Pg 129) (Faith) in first sense means belief accepting or regarding as true the doctrines of Christianity. Now faith in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. Christ offers something for nothing: He even offers everything for nothing. In a sense, the whole Christian life consists in accepting that very remarkable offer. But the difficulty is to reach the point of recognizing that all we have done and can do is nothing. (Pg 147) So faith is consistent, it is free (based on what grace enables) and it is redemptive. God gives us grace and we choose to believe and grow, simple. I do not know how much more simpler we can make this.
In terms of faith, our lack of standing for something (anything at all) is making us move for nothing at all. Bonhoeffer is deeply troubled by the lack of faith he sees in his society (and we should all be worried too). According to him, we have to examine the societies we live in. Are these societies working to promote the Gospel, or like Hitler's Germany, are they trying to rewrite history or write our present without God? In this era of our culture leading our Gospel “Nothing less than a return to the Christian faith can save” (p. 27) our societies. The good message of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s life is that Western Civilization must not die. It will be born again to youth.(p. 33)
Throughout the New testament we have repeated occasions where Jesus shows how through faith much can be achieved. In Matthew we have such an instance when in speaking about Faith Jesus says, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." That is how litle faith we need to make major things happen in our lives. It really bothers me (another pet peeve alert) when I see people quoting the Bible in the Facebook status and make it like a competition. Everyone wants you to see how much they know or how they have been able to come up with something smart...I am not judging, or at least I am not trying to. It just saddens me because I feel like they are cheapen the very important lessons that can be gleaned from the Bible. If you are writing all those and truly believing and practicing what you are posting then more grease to your elbows. I am more worried about the followers who just do this because they saw someone else do it and it looks fashionable to be "a Bible quoting Christian". But I digress.
Now as I mentioned earlier, this post was all based on today's reflection but that reflection triggered something deeper in me. I have been through a lot these past months, weeks etc. I kept believing as the people around me did that things would get better. However, when things did start to get better, I refused to believe they were actually getting better. Instead I started to look for where things could and would go wrong. I was telling myself I had grace and faith but I was living with fear. I was being typically human, having/making back up plans etc. etc. with the excuse that it seems to easy, they said it would, it should be harder.
That is what this reflection made me realize today. I am living as if I am unworthy of the free grace God chooses to send into my life. My human mind is trying to ration why I should be blessed and is telling me its a fluke, God is going to realize he sent the wrong grace and blessings to the wrong person and take it away. My plan was to enjoy it for now but plan for trouble times (which I believed were coming soon). Pretty human of me right?
Today after realizing this, I refuse to do that anymore. I am going to thank God for bringing me here today, giving me the blessings (the many many many blessings he has given me) I am truly unworthy but then again are any of us truly ever worthy of the love of God? It is a gift I embrace and I am going to give thanks for because he has seen it fit to give me, his unworthy servant the many graces I enjoy. :) If you are like me and God is blessing you right now in any way at all, don't be like I used to be and wonder when it is going to end. Enjoy it and give him thanks for it all. He is with you in the bad times and blesses you with the good time lets embrace them all. I thank God for my friends, my work (no matter how part time or how temporary), my amazing family especially my parents and for my God fearing man :) I am blessed and from today I will live like I truly believe that.
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