Grace Is Not Cheap

Tonight, I ended up at home because of some bad weather. So, I decided to write another blog entry. I have, as of late, been pondering something I read from a recent book, Death by Love by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears. In that book, God is described as the world’s greatest victim. We live in a society where everyone seems to be a victim, but very few people, to my knowledge have focused on this in terms of God.

Everyone wants their pound of flesh when wronged, but people all seem to want out easy from prior debts or wrongs. Criminals ask for pardons and parole, former students ask for student loans to be waived (http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/mar2009/bs20090323_558993.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_news+%2B+analysis), and leaders in industries of all types ask to be bailed out. When it is someone else’s problem, we think failure is OK; but, when it applies to us, we want an easy way out.

To me, this applies to our nature as humans relating to God. Diedrich Bonhoeffer warned Christians about the perils of cheap grace in his book The Cost of Discipleship. We want to live a happy life and not worry about the burden of sin or how it affects God because forgiveness is like a piece of Pez candy. You just keep on popping the dispenser to get more. It is so easy to miss that God is being hurt in this relationship. The grace He gives was not purchased at a “cheap” price and should not be treated as a commodity.

I am as guilty of this as any person. This portion of Death by Love really reached out and made me pause. The next time I complain about someone wronging me or something unfair, I truly should focus on my relationship with God. How fair am I being to the world’s greatest victim?