{"id":11378,"date":"2014-01-10T08:50:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T14:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theamericanjesus.net\/?p=11378"},"modified":"2014-01-10T08:50:05","modified_gmt":"2014-01-10T14:50:05","slug":"grace-is-a-funny-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/01\/grace-is-a-funny-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace Is A Funny Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"the-good-samaritan-1907\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(H\/T<\/a>)<\/p>\n

When we read in a passage like Acts 2 that, \u201cAll the believers were together and had everything in common.\u00a0They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need,\u201d or when we hear Jesus say in Mark 10, \u201cOne thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, then come, follow me\u201d or in Matthew 25 when he declares in no uncertain terms, \u201cWhatever you didn\u2019t do for the least of these, you didn\u2019t for me,\u201d\u00a0many of us tend to squirm.<\/p>\n

I know I do.<\/p>\n

We just don\u2019t like the thought of giving away the things we worked so hard to get. And we especially don\u2019t like the thought of giving away those hard earned things to people who \u201cdon\u2019t deserve it\u201d because \u201cthey haven\u2019t earned it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, I know this is the point where a lot of us stop talking about Jesus and start railing about how our money is already being taken away from us by the government and frivolously given to others.<\/p>\n

But this isn\u2019t a post about taxes or the role of government.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about everyday grace.<\/p>\n

Grace is a funny thing.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n

I mean, when you really think about it, it\u2019s not just absurd, it\u2019s a little off-putting.\u00a0It\u2019s certainly un-American.\u00a0Being American is about working hard and getting everything you deserve.<\/p>\n

But grace isn\u2019t like that.<\/p>\n

Grace is grace because it\u2019s given to people who don\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n

Let that sink in for minute<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Seriously.<\/p>\n

Let it sink in.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll wait.<\/p>\n

If you grew up in church, then I know you\u2019ve heard it a million times before, but let it wash over you anew.<\/p>\n

Try once more, maybe for the first time, to really wrap your mind around the radical and absurd nature of God\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n

You see, tragically, we tend to transform God\u2019s grace into the very opposite of grace. For many of us, grace is something God has<\/em> to give us, something God owes<\/em> us, something we deserve<\/em> for going down to an altar and asking Jesus into our heart.<\/p>\n

But God\u2019s grace isn\u2019t like that.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not given because we deserve it for doing the right thing. In fact, it\u2019s often given because we\u2019ve done just the opposite.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a radical gift that defies our deepest sensibilities.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s grace isn\u2019t just about having patience when a child has just taken their crayons to a freshly painted wall. God\u2019s grace is about looking at that child after they\u2019ve destroyed both of your lives through a lifetime\u2019s worth of bad decisions and saying with conviction, \u201cI still love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

God\u2019s grace isn\u2019t just about donating your old clothes to Goodwill. God\u2019s grace is about walking alongside the least of these for a lifetime and treating them everyday like family instead of a charity case when the holidays roll around.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s grace isn\u2019t just about a traffic cop letting you slide for speeding in a construction zone. God\u2019s grace is about looking at your oldest enemy, your harshest critic, or the stranger who destroyed your life in an instant with their stupid decision and saying \u201cI forgive you\u201d \u2013 and then living like you really mean it.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s grace looks at what we deserve, and offers us what we don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

So, when we deny our neighbors dignity and basic necessities, regardless of the reason, but especially because we think they don\u2019t deserve it, then we aren\u2019t simply denying them healthcare, food, shelter, or even forgiveness.<\/p>\n

We are denying them grace.<\/p>\n

And when we do that, we become\u00a0the unmerciful servant<\/a>\u00a0who has no claim to the grace God has extended to us.<\/p>\n

So give grace recklessly and with abandon.<\/p>\n

Especially to those that don\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n

Because neither did we.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grace and peace,<\/p>\n

Zack Hunt<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

FROM THE VAULT:\u00a0As I\u2019m always welcoming new people to the blog I sometimes like to revisit an old post or two that sparked a good conversation, but may have been missed by those who weren\u2019t around when it was originally posted. A slightly different version of this post appeared about a year ago.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(H\/T) When we read in a passage like Acts 2 that, \u201cAll the believers were together and had everything in common.\u00a0They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need,\u201d or when we hear Jesus say in Mark 10, \u201cOne thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3437,"featured_media":8926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGrace Is A Funny Thing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"(H\/T) When we read in a passage like Acts 2 that, \u201cAll the believers were together and had everything in common.\u00a0They sold property and possessions to\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/zackhunt\/2014\/01\/grace-is-a-funny-thing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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