scandal of grace 5

The truth is that Jesus came to set us free from religious standard keeping. What do I mean by that? Aren’t there rules and laws of God that we should obey? Of course, but where the church misses it is in the idea that our worth comes from keeping those rules, keeping “our noses clean” is not what guarantees acceptance by God. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Plain and simple, you didn’t do anything to deserve or earn salvation, it was bought for you. Most Christians would agree with that statement and thank God for it. But from that point on they are continually striving to keep God’s love, or to ensure that they don’t “fall” out of grace. It becomes work to stay in with God, now that they’ve got there.

I watched a video not long ago that outlined a philosophy taught by a conductor, Benjamin Zander. He and his wife, Rosalind, have written a book called, “The Art of Possibility.” And in this book, Benjamin shares about when he teaches a group of musicians he starts out his class by announcing that everyone in his class receives an “A” and that the only thing they have to do to qualify for that “A” is to write him a post-dated letter (for the end of the semester) and tell him why they will have deserved the grade. He says that so many people focus on trying to attain the right grade, in class and in life, that they are more cautious and afraid to take the risks involved in becoming better musicians, or students, or people in general.

He says that giving the “A” is a possibility for them to live into and not a standard to live up to.

As I chewed on this concept, I thought, “This is what God does with us.” Grace gives us an “A.”

Think about it. When you come into a class, for example, the grade book is empty. Everyone is striving to get good grades to fill up the book and equal out to a passing grade. We all start as zeros in the book. But starting everyone as an “A” student takes away that pressure to perform and they can focus on really learning the subject. (Of course, you have the opportunity to be a slacker too, but that would be up to you, the benefit is not the “A” but what you have gained from the class.)

But this is what grace has done for us. We have all come to God as “zeros in the book.” But because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, He took our failures and sins, and replaced it with an “A.” Now when we come to God in faith and believe the sacrifice of Christ is for us, we are brought into relationship with God and given a status that would be unreachable for us on our own. We get an “A.” God sees us in the image of His Son.

If, from this vantage point, we can begin to see ourselves as accepted by God the way we are, we can begin to explore our relationship with Him without fear of not measuring up, without the fear of failing Him, of being cast aside. It gives us freedom to grow and learn from the Teacher without the pressure of having to measure up to the standards of the others around us. We can return home with assurance that God’s love hasn’t changed toward us and even if we’ve never left the house, we can experience Dad’s goodness, instead of working blindly with resentment and fear. We can become free…