What is Grace? part 2

In part 1 we explored the basics of grace. I recommend that you read it before continuing here.

So now that you understand how to access His grace, and are praying and asking for what it is that you want, you find that it grows stronger within you. Rather than dissipating, you feel the desire more, and it seems to be connecting you to Him in a deeper way. There's just 1 problem: the request isn't getting fulfilled.

Certainly it will require patience and perseverance to receive His grace for big things. If you are asking for things that will change other people (rekindling love in a spouse, breaking addictions, etc.), it will very likely take weeks and months, if not years. Realize that the process may be very painful for other people, and God loves them too much to change them so fast that it causes great pain. Know that you must persevere.

If you still feel like your prayers are getting nowhere, it may be time to apply some lubricant. This only works if you FULLY understand what was said about grace above. It is UNEARNED. It is UNMERITED. It is UNDESERVED, a free gift from God. If you have completely abandoned any idea that any work by you could increase His favor upon you, then you are ready to go deeper.

If your faith is sufficient for your request, you can speed the process along by "obedience." (If your faith is insufficient, then start by asking for more faith, then go back to your original request) I use the quotations because I mean obedience in the traditional definition, plus things like fasting that help to bring God to the center of your life.

Why do I think of "obedience" as lubricant? Doesn't that seem in contradiction to prior statements, that grace is not produced by works?

Consider the great patriarchs of the old testament, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Abraham is known as the father of faith. Isaac is the obedient son, prefiguring Jesus by carrying the wood for the sacrifice and willingly offering himself as the sacrifice at the request of his father (read it here). And Jacob, whom God renames as Israel, is the demonstration of grace. Thus, the initial revelation of faith and obedience leading to grace.

God later reveals His identity to Moses at the burning bush, "God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations" (Exd 3:15).

Immediately prior to this pronouncement, God says to call Him, "I AM WHO I AM". Earlier in the bible, He is known by several other names. Why should the almighty choose a name for himself, when He already has 4 or 5 at this point, especially a series of human names? He is telling us not just His name, but how to relate to Him. Faith + Obedience = GRACE.

If you don't yet believe me, keep reading.

Let me be clear about what I mean by obedience. I mean removing the things God says do not belong in your life. See the 10 commandments for a start, specifically referring to the negative commandments (after honor your parents). Once you remove these things (stealing, adultery, murder, coveting, etc.), you cannot DO more. That is, if you don't murder anyone, you cannot not murder even more. There is a natural limit on the human action portion.

If you associate a grace from God as the result of some "works" on your part (rather than expressions of faith), and conclude that you should do more of those same "works" to produce more graces, you have fallen off the wagon and completely missed the entire point of this essay. Grace is not produced by works, it is free gift from God. If your obedience is focusing on God, moving Him closer to the center of your life, and aligning your life with His will, then you are moving in the right direction.

Notice that it is His plan that your faith and prayer to Him (on behalf of other people, or to deliver something to you) draws you closer to Him as well.

So what about the positive commandments, can you overdo those? Yes, all except loving God with your entire existence. You can NEVER overdo that.

How do I know which obedience? Do I have to do all of them before He will answer? In fact, do I have to have forgiveness before I can even ask? Does my soul have to be clean (Catholics call this the sacrament of Reconciliation [aka Confession]) before He will start answering?

These are all good questions, and a full answer is well beyond the scope of this essay. In short, let Him lead you. Pray and ask what obedience He wants for you. Know that He is exceedingly gentle, and often times may ask for nothing. Or he may ask you to stop cursing. The best obedience is what He leads you into and lays on your heart.

No, you do not need to be completely obedient before He will hear or answer you. No (current) human being can be completely obedient, so it would be pointless for God to operate this way. It is, however, a very common tactic of the enemy to distract and discourage those with sufficient faith to see real results. Don't fall for it!

No, you do not need to have a "clean soul" to come before God and ask for His grace. Some people will tell you that it is written that God is Holy, and nothing unholy can be in His presence. I refer them to Job 1.

This leads us to a deeper understanding of what grace is. God is Holy, and His holiness is unyielding and inflexible. Humankind came to understand this when God gave the Hebrews the law (10 commandments and all the rest of His specifications). God knew that we could not keep the law, and ordinarily that would have permanently separated us from Him.

But He had a greater plan. He sent His Son, begotten, Holy and perfect, to fulfill the entirety of the law for us. By his faith, Jesus performed many miracles. By his obedience, he yielded his life on the cross for us. By the faith and obedience of Jesus, God bestowed the grace of salvation, everlasting life with Him, upon all of us His creation. Jesus is the fullness of God's grace.

Grace is the mechanism by which an unyieldingly Holy God can reach His beloved, but fallen, children. That is, grace is the difference between where He is and wherever you are. Grace is the mechanism by which He relates to us, His creation that cannot keep His law.

What is Grace? part 1

Religious textbooks will tell you that grace is unearned, unmerited, undeserved favor of God. I think that's a pretty good place to start.

Grace is an expression of God's love for us, regardless of our state. Whether we are rich or poor, healthy or sick, attempting to be obedient to Him or completely belligerent, HE LOVES US. Even if we don't love ourselves, can't see why anybody else would love us, or can't imagine a creator that could possibly love us, He does.

Grace is a statement of love, freely given to all of us by God. There is nothing we can "do" to make God love us more. St. Paul talks about this in his letters, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace" (Romans 11:6). Works do not produce grace! It is free gift from God.

While we cannot increase his love for us by the works that we perform, there ARE things we can do to increase his flow of grace upon and through us. How do we access more grace? By FAITH!

How do we know this? St. Paul tells us explicitly, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8).  Here are some more references for you to explore about how faith is used to access God's grace: Rom 4:16, Rom 5:2, 1 Ti 1:13.

In the example above (Eph 2:8), the particular grace St. Paul is referring to is eternal salvation.There are many other graces God bestows upon us, including fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:21), wisdom, health, protection, love, joy, peace, and many more.

So how do we access His grace? By faith! But how exactly? Start by simply asking for what you want. It takes courage and faith to ask God for what you want. I encourage you to ask out loud; say the words with your voice. If you need, find a quiet and private place to do this. Speaking these requests aloud always seems to bring stronger results, although I cannot exactly say why.

Are you concerned about whether He will hear you? It is difficult to accept that He is Almighty, or that He created the entire universe, but is unable or unwilling to hear you. He has endured a lot to make a relationship with you possible. He even sent His only begotten (not made) Son to die in place for your sins. He will hear your every prayer.

Perhaps a deeper question is, What if I am asking for something that I should not have, or is against His will? What then?

PUSH! Pray Until Something Happens!
This will generally resolve itself in 1 of 2 ways. Either your prayer will grow stronger within you, and you will begin to see Him moving pieces to make it happen, or it will fall from your favor and you will lose interest. In short, pray until He answers your request (not necessarily as you intended), or until he moves your heart to let go of the request. Either way, you are expressing faith and giving glory to God!

I can't encourage you enough to pray and ask for the things you want. If I had a nickel for every time a Christian expressed that he/she wanted something, but didn't have enough faith to ask God for it, I would be IMMENSELY WEALTHY. I might even give King Solomon a run for his money!

With that, we have covered the basics of grace; what it is and how to access His grace. If you are interested, proceed to part 2.

God's Design for a Healthy Marriage

The reading for today can be found here. Alternately, the gospel reading can be found here (Jn 20:1-2, 11-18)

Many people have wondered why it was a woman that found the empty tomb, and first encountered the risen Christ. The various gospels differ slightly on exactly who was at the empty tomb first, but they are unanimous in describing them all as women. Why all women?

St. Paul tells us in Corinthians (15:21-22), "For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive." In other words, death entered the world through the sin of Adam, but resurrection and salvation entered upon the fullness of obedience of Jesus Christ.

Inasmuch as Eve led Adam into sin, so the women that encountered the empty tomb led the disciples to the risen Christ, and forgiveness of sins.

God's design for a healthy marriage is Him prompting and leading her, and the husband follows the wife. The husband is given authority over the wife not for bossing her around. It is to restrain her if she should be deceived, or follow an evil conscience. Let's look in a little bit of detail before exploring some biblical examples.

Women tend to be more open to the workings of the Spirit than men. After all, it was a male dominated society and religion that was so sure the messiah would be a military conqueror to set the Jews free from Roman oppression. In their conviction, they completely missed His Grace.

By contrast, one of the most common complaints of men about women is that they constantly change their minds. Generally, women are either more open to new things, or comfortable changing a prior decision, or both.

Broad, sweeping generalizations are never accurate for all cases, or even most. If you are married or in a relationship, take some time to consider how this dynamic plays out for you. How does your spouse or significant other reveal Christ to you?

How does this play out in the bible? The first example that comes to mind is a negative example, but it still provides some clues. Despite the fact that God forbade Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the serpent tricks Eve into eating. And she gives fruit to Adam, who also eats.

Why did the serpent not trick Adam first? He was made first. It seems as if satan knows God's design. If he can convince the woman, the man will follow. That is how men are made; they are constantly pursuing women. This remains true today, it is an expression of how God made men. But, as with everything else that God made, men express it in many ways that He never intended.

Later in Genesis, God promises to Abram that He will give him a son. But Abram and Sarai become impatient during the wait. She gives her Egyptian servant to Abram to get the process going. And Abram listened to Sarai!! The fruit of the union of Abram and Hagar was Ishmael.

This is amazing! Abram is the Father of Faith! And yet he follows his wife into a lack of faith, taking matters into their own hands that God had already promised to provide. Sarai leads Abram into lack of faith, and he willingly follows. What's more amazing, though, is that neither are punished by God. Rather, He extends the second promise (descendents as numerous as the stars) to Ishmael as well, despite the fact that he is the fruit of lack of faith.

What a generous and gracious God! Perhaps His response is so kind to demonstrate to future generations that obedience to His plan, even unwittingly by Abram following Sarai, bears His fruit.

Interestingly, this is the pattern that Abram's family would demonstrate for all the ages. Abram is the Father of Faith. His son Isaac (from Sarah) represents obedience, prefiguring Jesus Christ by carrying the wood for the sacrifice and willingly participating as the sacrifice. Isaac's son Jacob represents God's Grace. The formula is faith + obedience = grace. More on this in another post.

There is yet another interesting example of this in the book of Genesis. After Isaac is born, Sarah no longer wants Hagar and Ishmael around. She tells Abraham to send them away. Consider how difficult it would be to send away your first son and his mother. Especially since it was Sarah's idea to have a son that way to begin with!!

But God confirms what Sarah asks!! That is an interesting choice for an all-loving God. Or did He prompt Sarah with those feelings to begin with? And here we see Abraham's mighty faith again, trusting his son and the boy's mother to God.

These are a few examples of wives leading husbands into situations, with divine results. I encourage you to think about it, pray about it, and see about His design for your relationship. There is nothing more satisfying and intimate than to pray privately for something, then find your spouse spontaneously leading you into it.

July 4th Holiday

Happy July 4th holiday to all!

As you know, this is the day that we celebrate American Independence. I'd like to take a few minutes to share some thoughts that woke me up a few weeks ago.

Most of us know that the American flag has 13 red and white stripes, to represent the 13 original colonies. Did you know that the inspiration for the color choice is biblical, "but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out"? (John 19:34) Jesus' suffering and death is the source of our FULLNESS of GRACE.

The choice of shape further bears this out. The choice of stripes harkens back to Isaiah, "with his stripes we are healed". (Isaiah 53:5)

I wondered if red and white could also represent the body and blood. I see no reason why not, but it was not the thought that woke me.

Most people also know that the American flag also has 50 white stars on a field of blue, to represent the current 50 states. Blue is used to represent God's grace. It is used repeatedly throughout Exodus in the design and layout of God's tabernacle.

The white stars on a field of blue represent the sky. The blue sky by day is a passive reminder of God's grace. During the day, mankind is at work. Human work (efforts at salvation, or even to serve Him) is the opposite of His grace. The blue sky by day is a passive reminder of the Grace that is available to those who seek it through faith, not works.

The stars (with the moon) govern the night sky. Unlike the blue, they are active, they twinkle. This represents the slow, steady, eternal nature of God's grace upon humanity. It is available when mankind is at REST. It is restoring and refreshing the soul, just as sleep refreshes the body.

For the physics-minded, they will note that both blue and white are colors or variations of the same electromagnetic radiation. But, the color blue is a thin slice of the visible spectrum. The color white is the entire spectrum! White is the sum of all colors, blue included. If you used a prism, you could divide white light into a spectrum that looks like a rainbow. Blue is just a tiny reminder, white is the fullness of all.

The remaining point that I pondered was, why America? There are lots of other countries today, and have been plenty more over the recent millennia of human existence. Why is the American flag, and by extension, country, tied to the source and demonstration of God's grace?

The answer is found in the American identity; the reasoning and goals of the founding fathers to enshrine human liberty above all else... especially the liberty to worship God as each individual sees fit. This human liberty was indeed "endowed by our creator" according to His great plan. Every one of us is free to choose who we will serve in this lifetime. He wants us to freely choose to serve Him. That is our greatest calling, and the purpose of our existence.

When we align our human efforts with His design, the results are truly miraculous.

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

The scripture readings for today can be located here or visit USCCB.

 Do you find the story of David and Bathsheba as interesting as I do?

After all that the Lord has done for David, and despite the many wives that he has, David commits adultery, then murder to cover it up. In this story, God brings his indictment against David by the mouth of the prophet Nathan. In part due to the story told by Nathan prior to the reading, David readily admits his guilt.

And immediately the Lord forgives him! His words of forgiveness come straight forth from the mouth of Nathan.

However, David is allowed to keep Bathsheba as his wife! Scripture later tells us that she is his favorite wife. Furthermore, her second son is Solomon, who becomes king after David. He becomes a great king, is favored by God, and builds His temple. Yet Solomon was born to the mother aquired to David through adultery and murder! How can this be??

It's as if the whole adultery/murder incident never happened!

And that's the point. This is a wonderful example of divine forgiveness. David admitted his sin, God forgave him. And then, the sins were put out forever. As far as the east is from the west, so far is our sin removed from us. God sees our sin no more.

It's too bad we don't treat ourselves and others like this.