Yet again, I have been a horrible blogger when it comes to keeping up with posting stuff. But there is a saying somewhere that talks about quality over quanitity. Yeah, let's go with that...
So, today I turn twenty-three years old. My life up to this point has had many ups and just as many downs, but nonetheless I am blessed. I shudder to think what my life would be like if I did not know my Creator or how orphaned I would be if I was not assured in knowing who my Father is. As I look at the life I have lived over the past twenty-three years, a very peculiar thing begins to stick out: the realization that I have been learning where I stand in this cosmic masterpiece. This is to say, the cataracts of my own selfishness and pride have long blinded me because I always found myself at the center of my own universe. I was my own god. But since I have begun the journey of exchanging my heart for His, the spirit-filled hymn "Amazing Grace" surely holds true: "I once was blind, but now I see."
This point becomes ever clearer as God continues to reveal the mystery of His Word to my feeble human mind. Here, let me show you... As Peter is concluding his second letter to a group of Christians, he writes, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." (2 Peter 3:18) That statement is rather innocuous at first as it seems to just reiterate some of the main principles found within the Bible: be gracious, learn more about God, give Him the glory, prepare yourself for eternity. Got it! But there is sooo much more. In this post I want to take a moment to look at one little word found within this Scripture that puts everything into perspective: grace.
In our current culture, we think about grace as the catch-all of our actions. We are seduced by the notion of abounding grace which washes away all our sins and keeps us on the good side of God. Don't get me wrong, this is absolutely true. However, we use this word in such a way that it has become flippant and watered-down. Let me explain: the word "grace" is referenced as being given from our Lord Jesus Christ within the passage. This is astounding because grace is closely transliterated with a few other words, perhaps one of the foremost being pity. So God is telling us to grow in His pity for us. What does that mean? Well, pity is indicative of our current condition. It tells us that if left to captain our own ship, we would sink...quickly. Thus, the first and one of the most profound steps we will ever take on our journey to eternity is the realization that we are indeed in need of His pity. That we are pitiful.
Hence, it must be said that offered pity does little good if one does not accept it in the first place. Pulling yourself up by your own boot straps will never work. And neither will telling yourself that you're good enough on your own. You're not. I know that stings because it hits us right in the ego like when Luke Skywalker learns that Darth Vader is his father (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwvnRneMHiY). We desire so desperately not be desperate. We blind ourselves with our good deeds and comparisons to others that we never truly see ourselves for who we are. The anchor of pride is shackeled tightly around us even amongst the flood of Truth. We are not who we portray ourselves to be and have fallen short in even the smallest tests. However, this is precisely what God would have us recognize because it is a momento of His love for us.
I know this because every day I realize more and more just how disgusting I am in my flesh. Even on my best days I am still pure filth. But how awesome it is to know this! It is in this light that we can truly understand God's purpose for our lives. Somehow He has still managed to pity me enough that He would redeem my soul amidst my failings. He tore the veil of my sin from the top down, forever establishing His perfect covenant with me. ME! The guy who is far from spotless. It reminds me of a song where the lyrics cry out "Oh my soul, Oh my Jesus. Judas sold You for thirty, I'd have done it for less" ("What Have We Done?" by Kings Kaleidoscope -- I highly recommend their music). Those words are piercing because every day I still sell myself to the lesser pleasures of life, forsaking the good things God would have for me if I would just listen. But I deny Him because my pride tells me that I know better. So it is that the fallacy of my flesh becomes ever more obvious.
What this offered measure of grace and pity does is it allows us see our own lives as deeply in need of redemption, where our flesh would immediately fail apart from God's providence. Without God's immeasurable love, I would cease to be. As I look at life through this lense, the Scriptural precept of blessing my enemies no longer stands in stark contrast to what my heart would have me do. They are in just as desperate need of pity as I am, but they have yet to shed the chains that bond them in servitude to their sins. Their biggest impedement is their own selfishness and pride because they, like my former self, have made themselves their own god. What a small universe it is that these people inhabit. C.S. Lewis wrote in his book The Screwtape Letters, "When He talks of their losing their selves, He only means abandoning the clamour of self-will; once they have done that, He really gives them back all their personality, and boasts...that when they are wholly His they will be more themselves than ever." This truth cannot be overstated. Apart from God, we are just a shadow of our truest selves. The worldly pleasures that we know are few and fleeting, needing to be replenished ritually. Whether it be material things, alcohol, drugs, sex, or the like, they never fully satisfy our desires, but leave us wanting more. Its truly insatiable.
The point I'm wanting to really hit home is that God has called us to grow in His grace for a reason: to know that we all are in need of saving and that He has provided the means. With this in mind, we must extend the same love and pity offered to us to the very people that surround us. Not because they deserve it, but because the example has been set in our own lives as Christians by our Savior. Likewise, the person who receives presents on their birthday gets them freely, but they undoubtedly cost the giver. So it is with grace. Love the unlovable. Pity the prideful. Defend the Gospel with your lives.
With love.
