What is grace worth to you?

It seems to me that in the rejection of a just God, man accepts, in His place, the idea of a just universe. Why do we find it so easy to trust "karma" to do the right thing, but just as easily question whether God can? Why is God the target, and not "karma", whenever we have something unjust to throw?

When Jonah got himself comfortable, with a good view of Ninevah, and waited to see what would happen, did he think that cosmic justice would come through? Is that what he was waiting for?
Why shouldn't he? These people were brutal conquerors, proud of their dominance, ruthless in their attacks, ripping open the bellies of pregnant women. They deserved to be wiped off the face of the earth. Is there not such a thing as evil that goes far beyond the reach of any compassion?

But Jonah knew that God wouldn't see it that way.
These wicked people had repented, and God, just as Jonah had predicted, relented from destroying them. Jonah became angry at God for His compassionate nature, bitter with Him for showing grace and mercy toward such evil people. This was exactly why Jonah had avoided Ninevah in the first place.

David wrote, "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us; nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." Psalm 103:10
Did you see that? He has not dealt with us according to our deeds. God is not bound by the law of karma! Hallelujah!

Jonah, familiar with David's words, says "I knew that about You, O Lord", except he wasn't saying them as words of praise.  "I knew that about You", burned like drops of acid, and to finish off his tirade, Jonah concluded, "Lord, just kill me now, I would rather die then suffer like this." My goodness! Jonah is suffering because God is compassionate. This doesn't make any sense! What kind of heart despises someone for his goodness?
How could Jonah despise God's grace?
How can we?

"But I don't!", you say.
Sure about that?

What is there to hate about grace? According to my flesh, there is plenty.
Hard to imagine isn't it?
Have you ever been made to feel useless, irrelevant, unwanted? Have you ever been tossed aside, pushed out to make room for something better, rejected, made to feel like what you have to offer isn't good enough? That's how flesh "feels" about grace. Grace dismisses every effort of my flesh as obsolete, no, more than that, as useless, as worthless.

My flesh and I like to think that we are good enough, or at least, better, better than something, anything, even just one thing. We believe in our ability to be good, and desire to prove it to the world around us.
Are you clinging to little bits of your own goodness, still hoping that you can pull through and make a "good" show of it for everyone? You are very likely despising grace.
Grace. What does grace and my goodness have in common? Absolutely nothing. Grace cancels out all my good, makes all my good efforts worthless.

My flesh and I agree that we don't need help, we like to think of ourselves as very self-sufficient. We don't like being dependent on others, or having to ask for help, because we can do it by ourselves.
Do you find it too difficult to accept help? Are you proud of being self-sufficient?
You'll find it hard to accept grace.
Grace declares me inadequate, inferior, defective, imperfect. Grace is only beautiful to me when I am broken, completely emptied and spiritually destitute.

My flesh and I are not only independent, but we are very confident in our efforts as well, so confident, that even when we screw things up, we are shocked. "How could we have messed up so badly!", we cry.
Do you take pride in your achievements, relish in the satisfaction of receiving what you have earned?
Grace will leave a bitter taste in your mouth.
Grace rejects all my self effort, wipes it out, obliterates it. Grace gives unwarranted good to me when I have made a royal mess of things. What grace gives to me is everything that I can't possibly earn.

Grace says bluntly, "You are undeserving."
My flesh reacts to that with fierce self defense. It says that I deserve better, loves to stop the game and whip out the "unfair" card, when I get less than I deserve.

Grace says I can't pay the debt I owe, leaving me forever indebted to someone Superior.
I hate feeling inferior; I hate being indebted.

What is grace worth to you?

The value of Grace only grows as you see the overwhelming immensity of your sin. Only then can you fully appreciate that where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more, and be grateful for the tidal wave of grace, rather than see it as an opportunity to sin more.

The only way that I can suffer according to the will of God is to be completely surrendered to His justice, a justice that procured for me forgiveness of sin, of which every single tiny molecule of my flesh is helplessly and wretchedly undeserving.

When I started this chapter on suffering, I had no idea that, in pursuing the truth of God's justice, I would end up soaking in His grace. But there you have it, and I wouldn't want to suffer without it.
Amazing, isn't it!

The Divine Paradox

O Man
What do you think?
Do you think you can pass judgment on others and still escape God's judgment?
Do you think so little of God's patience and kindness that brings you to repent?
Your stubborn and unrepentant heart is storing up God's wrath and righteous judgment, "who will render to every man according to his deeds: to those who do good, eternal life; to those who are selfish and disobedient, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul who does evil, Jew first and then the Greek; and glory and peace for every soul who does good, same order.
(Romans 2:1-16)

Surely now, this is enough evidence to confirm that our deeds determine our destiny, that good will be paid back with good, and bad for bad.

In his commentary on Romans,  H.G.C. Moule tells us that, at this point in his letter to the Romans, Paul is about to embark on "the divine paradox of the Justification of the Ungodly, but first, he bids us to consider right, wrong, judgment, and retribution as if there were nothing else in the moral universe."

Enter judgment.
Does the universe act as our moral judge?
Can we be the judges of what is right or wrong?
Do the Jews have a right to judge Gentiles because they don't keep the law, or by judging others, do they actually condemn themselves?
Even the Gentiles instinctively know what is right and good, know it in their hearts, but that does not make them good. They condemn themselves by failing to live up to it.
There will be a day, when God will judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ.

Paul, you are indeed so clever in your arguments.
If our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, then isn't He unjust to inflict wrath?
If my lie brings God glory, why am I being judged?
And why not go ahead and say (what we have already been slanderously reported to have been saying),
"let's do evil, so good will come out of it".
Twisted.
No one is better than another, for all have sinned, all have been separated from God, no one does good to begin with.

The whole world will one day stand before God and be held accountable to Him, finally realizing just how holy and perfect He is, and how unutterably despicable we are. Like Job, we will put our hands over our mouths, having run out of arguments, excuses, defenses and self-justifications.
Guilty as charged, we all stand condemned as children of wrath.

That is a universe where only right, wrong, judgment and retribution exist.

Enter the Justifier.
But God, because of His great love, publicly displayed Christ on the cross, condemned to suffer the most excruciating form of capital punishment ever invented, in order to pay the price that satisfied the wrath of God for our sin, in order to demonstrate God's righteousness and patience in passing over our sins, in order that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

It is that faith in Jesus that justifies man, not his works. A worker gets paid what he is due, according to his deeds, whereas, belief in Him who justifies the wicked makes a guilty man declared rightly innocent before God, not according to his deeds, but according to the work of Christ on the cross.
Can you believe it?! No one deserves to be declared innocent before a holy God, and yet that is exactly what He does, and He is Just in doing it.
(Romans 3)

Enter grace.
Flesh hates grace, because grace gives freely what is undeserved to the undeserving.

The fact is, we are not paid back according to our deeds. God offers forgiveness to the wicked, forgiveness that is totally undeserved, absolutely unmerited. It is not a justice that we would consider right and fair, but it is justice according to God.
Hallelujah! That justice, all crazily stirred up with mercy and grace, is my blessed hope. Oh, how I need to be reminded of that every day! I have received good and it is not because I have done something good in my past.
Therefore, in the most beautiful paradox you'll ever see, my depraved soul has been justified.
Through Jesus Christ, I have been ushered onto this platform of grace on which I stand, and now I have peace with God, now I jump for joy (not in my hope only, but also in my suffering), now I know that my suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope, now I know that this hope will not disappoint, now I know that I have the Holy Spirit and that through Him, I am filled with God's love.
(Romans 5)

Now I know.
Suffering in the Spirit is impossible without a love of God's grace and His right to deal with us according to His great love and mercy, not according to our deeds. If we insist on judging others for their works, on expecting God to judge others according to their works, then we invite Him to deal with us the same way.
Have you thought fully of what that implies?
Do you really want to be held to that standard?

The Reward for Doing Good

In my search to understand why this concept of karma is so appealing, I have bumped into some very interesting comments on the internet. I chuckled over one that likened karma to that old saying "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". You mean, that old saying that Jesus taught in his Sermon on the mount, "However you want people to treat you, so treat them". Is Jesus teaching us to follow karma, saying that you do good so that good will come back to you?

If we keep reading in Luke 6, we find that Jesus was emphasizing a new way of treating those who treat us unfairly. There is no gain, he says, in doing good to those who do good to you, even evil people can do that.  We are commanded to be like Him by loving our enemies, doing good to those who hate us, blessing those who curse us. Why? Because the Father is merciful to wicked and ungrateful people.
It would seem that Jesus's main point is mercy, not retribution.

What about that saying "you reap what you sow"?
Ummm...could anything be more obviously true; nature shows us that the seed you sow determines the crop you grow. Is that in the Bible too? Does it reinforce this idea of what goes around comes around?
Paul wrote to the Galatians, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows this he will also reap." (6:7) Certainly sounds like karma, doesn't it, sounds like if you sow good, good will come back to you?  Is that what Paul means? Well, it sort of seems that way.

Surprise, surprise, what do you know? Paul is actually still on the flesh vs. Spirit theme. "If you sow to flesh, you reap corruption," he says, "if you sow to the Spirit, you reap eternal life." My emphasis in life is not really about whether I do good or evil per each individual deed, but whether I am serving the flesh or serving the Spirit.  In other words, "Don't kid yourself, flesh cannot do anything good, and God is not fooled by your attempts." The Bible doesn't support an unknown force that will bring justice to this world according to our deeds, rather, in it, we find the truth that there is a clearly defined struggle between the flesh and the Spirit, and it is impossible for the flesh to produce the Spirit. Our job is to crucify the flesh and walk in the Spirit, everyday.

This doesn't mean that we don't need to do good. Quite the contrary, Paul exhorts the believers to not grow weary of doing good, especially in the face of suffering. But it is equally important to not be deceived by the flesh, which tries its best to make itself acceptable, to protect itself from hardship, to indulge itself in comfortable pleasures. "Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ." (v. 12) In a very authentic moment, Paul told the Romans that when he wants to do good, evil is always there (7:21). Therefore, we should walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh, "for the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace," for if you are in the flesh you can't please God. If you are walking, thinking or living "according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (8:6,13) Crucify the flesh and you won't fulfill its desires. We need to be strangling the flesh, not sowing to it and watering it.

On the other hand, Paul makes it clear that this life and peace, that we have in the Spirit, does not mean a life free of suffering. We, who are in the Spirit, share an inheritance with Christ, if we suffer with Him. We must endure suffering in this world, endure it even when exhausted, never dropping the ball in doing good, being wise to the fact that your flesh will want to take the easy way out, and that won't include doing the right thing.

Have you noticed how "the right thing" is usually not the thing you "feel" like doing when you are tired? Oh how I want to whine and say "why does it have to be so hard, God? Why don't you make it easier for me?" That's when, as my husband is fond of saying, "I just have to grow up and put my big boy pants on".

Do you expect to suffer?
Do you expect suffering to accompany doing good, doing the right thing?
Do you ever think that suffering is a good thing?
Do you ever view suffering as a blessing?
If you think that is impossible, Peter would argue that, it's not only possible, it's truth founded on Christ.
His first letter revolutionizes our view on suffering.

"when you do what is right and suffer for it, you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. For you have been called for this very purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps," (2:20-21)
"But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed." (3:14)
(and I don't think this is a very big "if", but more like a certainty)
"For it is better if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;" (3:17-18)
(you mean this could be God's will!)
"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation (or as we say today, "jump for joy"). If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name let him glorify God." (4:15-16)
"Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right." (4:19)

Don't stop doing what is right and good, even when you suffer for it. Remember that you are entrusting yourself to your faithful Lord, and not to anyone else. Be encouraged with the hope Paul gives, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Romans 8:18)

Cosmic Justice

Anybody remember the song Julie Andrews sang in the "The Sound of Music", when Captain Von Trapp finally admits he loves her? Unable to comprehend why he would love her, she sings:
"Nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could,
so somewhere in my youth or childhood,
I must have done something good."

What do you think?
Was she being loved now because of some unknown act of goodness in her past? If she had never done anything good, would that mean she would never be loved?
Does there exist a direct correlation between the good things that happen to you now and the good you've done in the past? Sounds like karma, doesn't it? Certainly you've heard the term "karma" being tossed about in the media, enough to have an idea of what it means.
"Simply said", says Raj, A Strong Believer in Karma, "one’s acts become his/her destiny. What you give is what you get in return. Do good, and nature definitely returns you the favor. Do something wrong/evil/unethical and it sure will come back to you some day in some form."
Though Karma officially relates to the belief in reincarnation, the belief that what you do in this life determines who you will be in the next, today it is widely accepted to mean "what goes around comes around". Even if you don't believe that "karma" actually exists as some unseen force or believe in reincarnation, you probably still hold to the principle of karma as true. Isn't this the way it should be? Aren't ethical standards built on this concept of cause and effect? Do something good and good will come back to you. That's just common sense, folks, as commonly sensible as is the opposite. Spend your life being nasty to others, and know that you are eventually going to get what's coming to you. The chickens always come home to roost.

Daniel Handler, more famously known as Lemony Snicket, teller of the Series of Unfortunate Events says, “I'm not a believer in predetermined fates, being rewarded for one's efforts. I'm not a believer in karma. The reason why I try to be a good person is because I think it's the right thing to do. If I commit fewer bad acts there will be fewer bad acts, maybe other people will join in committing fewer bad acts, and in time there will be fewer and fewer of them.” ― His is a rather pessimistic view, I think. Eliminate evil, one act of evil at a time; his goal: see if we can achieve fewer bad acts. Maybe he hoped if he filled his books with evil acts, it would reduce the number of occurrences in the real world.

Naturally then, good deeds you do today will lead to good rewards in the future. Naturally.
And who will make sure this happens?
Why, the universe and karma will make things right again. It's the law.
Good begets good, bad reaps bad.
It is only right and fair.
A sort of cosmic justice, if you will.

Most people focus on the positive side of doing good, with the hope of filling this world with enough acts of goodness to tip the balance of evil and right all injustice. Social justice works on the theory that doing good will make this world a better place. Since 2007, there is a Good Deeds Day because, according to the founders, if we do enough good deeds, they will ripple out like rings in a pond, as agents of change to all mankind, thus bringing peace and harmony to this world.

I just finished reading the book of Acts today, and was "curiosified" by the reaction of the people of Malta, when Paul was bit by a viper that jumped out of the fire. They said,
"Undoubtedly (undoubtedly?) this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live."
Justice? Who are they talking about? Do they mean some force in the universe that makes sure that evil is repaid with evil? Do we as humans tend to unquestionably believe in an unseen, natural, cosmic law of justice that sees what you do and either rewards or punishes you in like manner?
Do you believe in this cosmic justice?

By now you're probably wondering, seriously wondering, if I have lost my mind. Well I did just celebrate my jubilee of birthdays, which could realistically account for this, but joking aside, I am still on the topic of suffering.
You see, suffering is an inevitable part of our Christian lives. We've been called to suffer; it is a privilege we should expect. However, if you are like me (and I'm guessing you are), your mind, heart and soul rebel against the very idea of suffering.
Why is that? I have an idea.
When our brains perceive something we think is wrong, it fights against it, refuses to accept it, rejects it completely. To change our minds regarding suffering, we need to see why we think it is wrong. One of those reasons is this human concept of good, evil and justice in the world, which, like the Maltans, we have "undoubtedly" absorbed.
Should we believe that doing good will bring us good, and doing evil will bring us evil?
Should we expect this to be the definition of justice?
Does God have something to say about this in His Word?