Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Grace vrs control and contempt

2 Corinthians 8:7 "But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also."

What is grace? How can you abound in it like in diligence and love?

I know when I am treated with grace. Sometimes I can feel God's grace sort of pouring over me. But I'm not sure sometimes how to walk in it... or abound in it. I want to be a carrier of grace. Like you can be a carrier of the flu! I want to have people say when I leave, "That was like a breath of fresh air." But how?

I can see opposites to grace. I have been thinking about a God who allows choice. Allowing people choice has allowed so much cruelty. Without choice there would be no sin... maybe, or is control sin all by itself? By allowing choice, God seems to deem control as more ugly than all the horrible things we have done to ourselves. I can see as many oppressive leaders are being challenged right now that control is at the heart of the damage they are doing. People need freedom to become great.

Another opposite of grace is contempt. There deeply seated enemy of love. Contempt is seeing the wrong instead of the right. It's choosing to be judges instead of participants in relationship. Contempt is by it's very nature a destroyer of people. Contempt is easy when people make so many mistakes. But there is something right inside of everyone. God breathed into us life... that life is holy. It's not that I want to ignore evil. I want to call out to the good. Blow on the coals of the authentic... is that grace?

1 comment:

  1. Still trying to see if I can make the comment thing work. I went to a current entry to try it again. You know who I am - your Montana friend who struggles with electronics.

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