It is tempting to think that God is like the parents we tried to please, the teachers we tried to impress or any number of authority figures we tried to stay on the right side of. And if we have been in receipt of the gift of praise, or the reward of approval or the thanks that has been offered because we have done something right, then it’s tempting to think that God would also bestow such awards on those who deserve them. The truth is though that God is a giver of grace not awards. It is not that God is not interested in our abilities or achievements; we are God’s creations, but the place of meeting with God is elsewhere. The grace of God is not to be found in our greatest achievements, (should we be fortunate enough to have achieved anything), we find the grace of God at the limits of our abilities and at the beginnings of our inability. Grace works with the grain of our capability not against it. And grace is enough.
“But [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me”. [1]
Does that mean that we just sit around and wait for God’s grace to put us in a right relationship with God and others? For that is what salvation is, the restoration of a right relationship with God and others. If we cannot be active in achieving our own salvation are we the mere passive recipients of God’s grace? The American theologian Eugene Peterson wrote about ‘the Middle Voice’ which is neither active or passive, but a middle way between the two. In the active voice we could say ‘I save myself’, in the passive voiced ‘I am saved by another, by God and God’s grace’. In the middle voice whilst salvation is God’s initiative and the work of God’s grace, I take that which has been offered and work with it to effect my salvation and through it participate in the salvation of the world. Thus we ‘continue to work out [our] salvation’ [2] not in our own strength but in God’s: ‘For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’.[3]
God does not expect us to be Wonder Woman or Superman, God is not going to inspect our qualities or qualifications to see whether we are deserving or capable; God takes us as we are and with our cooperation, our co-working with God, together we effect that work of renewal and re-creation.
This is Easter living.
[1] 2 Corinthians 12:9
[2] Philippians 2:12
[3] Ephesians 2:10
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