Disruptive Grace

Grace is disruptive.   Have you ever thought about that?   I hadn't really until just the other morning.

You know, you're sailing along through life, you mostly have things figured out and under control (or at least you know how to pretend that you do), you feel pretty good about your walk with the Lord because you're doing all the right things.

And then grace bursts onto the scene...

Suddenly, you find yourself re-evaluating everything.  Those comfortable, safe, black-and-white lines blur in places.  Your carefully-crafted plans start to crumble.   You realize you might not have all the answers, after all.   What's more, there isn't always an answer.  (Sometimes there's "just God"...and why are we so afraid of that?)

Grace shines the light on all our insufficiencies, our "not-enoughness", while at the same time whispering that we don't need to be enough; Jesus is enough.

Grace stops us in the midst of our striving, our struggling, our doing, and invites us to simply be.   To remember that we are dearly loved children of God – and to rest in knowing that our relationship began (and continues) because of Him, not us.

Grace interrupts our self-righteous and critical attitudes with, Remember how much love and patience God has shown you?   You don't deserve it any more than the next person.   You are no better.   That person does not owe God a greater debt than you do.

Grace peels back layers of tradition and habit to reveal the motives beneath – and they can be quite a surprise.   Sometimes they're downright ugly.

Right smack in the middle of life and its busyness, our Heavenly Father is holding His arms wide open and calling me – calling you – to come.

That is the disruptiveness of grace.