Is Grace LIKE THE LOTTERY,
you’re the recipient of a great prize due to no effort of your own?
I don’t like that comparison, it grates against me. Maybe because only one person wins big in the lottery. Maybe I’m jealous because I haven’t won. Maybe because it is so arbitrary.
With grace everybody wins.
So it is a shallow comparison, right. But there is still at the root a connection. You basically get something for free. And that’s what really still grates against my sense of fairness.
Think about that parable of Jesus. I work a long 12 hour day and the guy who only works for 1 hour gets paid the same as me. Am I suppose to be happy for him? It’s just not fair.
1 comment:
I wouldn't compare grace to the Lottery either. Grace is not about chance. It's not about having the right ticket. It's all about what God has provided.
However, in terms of a prize, it is like that in many ways. I always think about what the proper response should be to Grace. For example: I could buy someone a car and tell them that it was outside waiting for them, 100% paid for. The only thing that person would have to do is accept the keys from my hand. If that person chose not to accept the keys, they could not benefit from the grace that I showed them by buying them a car.
Jesus extends His grace to all, no matter who you are, where you are from or what you have done. He paid the price with His own blood. He has provided the opportunity for all to be redeemed to a right relationship with God. But in order to have the benefit of His grace, you must accept Him (the keys).
So in terms of Salvation, God's gift is free. In other words, there was no amount of work that we could do to be accepted by God. BUT WE MUST RECEIVE HIS FREE GIFT. Grace provides the opportunity, but we must accept it. All are extended God's grace, but not all will choose to accept it.
Grace is God's activity in our lives, to always bring us back to where He wants us to be.
-T.W.
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