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Excerpts from Seek And Ye Shall Find

What is grace?

Webster provides a mercifully brief definition: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification. Succinct, practical and useful, this definition covers the three main qualities of grace that bear on our purposes here: 1) It comes from God; 2) It is intended for our regeneration or rebirth; and 3) It is unmerited, undeserved. Unmerited and undeserved by us, I might add; Jesus paid for it by His suffering and death on the cross.

In many ways, God’s grace is difficult to distinguish from His love, mercy, forgiveness and compassion; in fact, one may argue that His grace is a composite of these qualities and others like them. That this is consistent within Webster’s framework of “divine assistance” allows us to finally bring some clarity to the conversation, and that alone far outweighs concerns over complicated theological definitions.

Take Action

It is not enough, having prayed, to sit around waiting for God’s response as you would patiently seat yourself waiting for a bus to arrive. It’s important to take some initiative to formulate your own plan for spreading love, compassion and understanding around in the best way you know how. God wants us to make a start from wherever it is we presently find ourselves. Though not fully confident we know best what is needed or how to proceed, we may yet begin, with an inner attitude of humility and attention, to spread kindness along the way, always alert to perceive any course adjustments God may provide.

By taking tentative, mindful and yet definite action, we are demonstrating to God our faith and confidence that He will step in and guide us. God wants us to rely upon Him to show us the way. By starting without Him, so to speak, we are demonstrating, in a powerful and unmistakable way, our faith in Him to do just that.

 

Love

Love is very similar to grace, in that it is one of those things we speak and hear a great deal about without having an operational definition of what we mean by the term. M. Scott Peck, in The Road Less Traveled, came up with a wonderfully simple definition: “caring about someone’s spiritual development.” This means promoting and being concerned with what is best for people regardless of where they may be in their lives at the moment. It’s a wonderfully gracious and beneficent sentiment.

This is the type of definition I believe Jesus had in mind when He implored us to love our neighbors and even our enemies. Of course, your love for your children, spouse, family and friends would require a much broader definition; yet even so, this simple definition of Peck’s would easily fit within it.

The beauty of Peck’s definition of love is that it allows us the greatest possible latitude to fulfill Jesus’s second greatest commandment: to love our neighbors as ourselves. And “neighbors,” as I’m sure Jesus knew, may well include enemies. Think of it this way: think of the way in which you love your family and closest friends. Now think of loving your enemies in the same way. Doesn’t work, right? It would be very difficult, practically impossible, to imagine loving your enemies in the same way you love your family and friends. But think now about caring about someone’s spiritual development. It’s easy to care about the spiritual development of your family and friends. But it’s also possible and practical to care about the spiritual development of your enemies; in fact, it is the only alternative to wishing them harm that I can imagine.

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