April 5

Day 22: Grace

On this, our fourth scattered Sunday, I'm missing some Sunday things, habits, personal rituals. I miss getting up early for prayer and solitude. I miss prepping the communion elements. I miss setting up the gear. I miss you.

But... you've seen it like I have - this week our inboxes and Facebook/Twitter/Instagram feeds suddenly flooded with countless invitations to participate in online community: calendared days for prayer and fasting; online "retreats;" webinars, and worldwide Good Friday and Easter Sunday services (with well-known speakers included.)

And maybe you also noticed this: the new uptick in the use of the word "Grace." What I saw, even yesterday, sounds something like this:

"My kids didn't get all of their schoolwork done. I need to show myself some grace."

"I have felt lazy and unproductive. I will begin giving myself more grace."

"This week, all I did was disengage my lower jaw and tip the refrigerator forward. But it's okay; I'm giving myself grace." (Okay, I made that one up.)

But, in this, I recognized people are (perhaps unintentionally) misappropriating the word "grace" like it's some new form of self-care. Essentially it sounds like this, "I can dispense grace to myself!"

No you can't. No one can.

I didn't Google it. I looked the word up for real in Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (so I'd feel collegiate, I guess.) Two primary ideas in the definitions of "grace:"

1. Grace is given FROM one TO another. (I take this to mean we cannot give grace to ourselves.)
2. Grace is UNDESERVED. (And I take this to mean we cannot give it to ourselves as something we've earned or deserve.) Cutting yourself some slack, that may be legit; giving yourself grace? No. Can't be done.

And I'll add this: the acknowledgment of grace-giving should POINT TO THE GIVER, not to the recipient.

Psalm 109: 26-27 says, "Help me, O LORD my God! Save me according to you steadfast love! Let them know that this is your hand; you, O LORD, have done it!"

The context of this Psalm finds King David asking God for grace; grace in the form of protection, of deliverance, of salvation from enemies and detractors, even some family members.

But...he also makes clear his ultimate motivation...that everybody would know that this grace comes only from God!

David wants to see God recognized as the Giver. David wants God's fame and reputation to grow.

Grace, unmerited favor, getting something you don't deserve, is intended to point back to the Giver.

This week we begin celebrating the great(est) grace given to us. "Jesus the Redeemer our salvation won!" We who believe and saved are His trophies. Jesus is the One who won over sin and death.

That is the true and ultimate definition of grace. We didn't and don't deserve this. He gave it. And He offers it still.

Mike Rydman, Lead Pastor, Radiant Church | Juneau