The one trait that sets Christianity apart (or should) from every other religion, philosophy and belief system is grace. Grace is simply the undeserved favor God generously offers everyone willing to accept Jesus Christ as God’s Son sent to save us from our sin problem. Every other religion/system is predicated on getting what we deserve and, therefore, earning what we want and need.
Judaism, the very system from which Jesus, a Jew, brought freedom after fulfilling its requirements and its prophecies is built on the Law of Moses, which delineates consequences for each violation of one of its 613 laws. In Hinduism and Buddhism, Karma assures justice is served, even if it takes multiple generations through reincarnation to accomplish it. Crimes and punishments under Islamic Sharia law dictate very strict dos and don’ts, with the harshest of resulting punishments, especially for women. Those are the big three besides Christianity, and as we journey through the other less known systems we don’t find anything resembling the grace of Jesus.
There really is a constant string of surprising pieces of good news as a Jesus follower walks out their faith with Jesus. What makes it so surprising is the “you-get-what-you-deserve” environment we all come from and must continue to walk through. Grace surprises me everyday and it’s been doing it for almost forty years now. (I came to Christ in 1983.)
Grace is the favor of God (FOG) and all us recipients of life in Christ walk in it, often without even knowing it. It’s so counterintuitive to our original nature, so foreign to our current culture, that we scarcely believe or recognize it.
Grace will always be foreign to whatever culture exists in this world – that is, until Jesus reigns those one thousand years on the earth. That shouldn’t surprise us. But the FOG shouldn’t be counterintuitive to those walking in it, to those who have accepted God’s grace by accepting Jesus. Anyone who doesn’t recognize the FOG, will never live as a DOG.
A DOG is exactly the life God wants for us. One of the main ideas Jesus tried to instill in His disciples, and the Spirit tries to instill in us modern age disciples, is that we are to dispense what has been so lavishly poured out to us. I am to be a dispenser of grace (DOG)
Jesus said people would know his followers by the love we have for one another…we are to love our enemies, those who mistreat us…it’s no longer eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but give another chance to the one who just slapped you in the face…don’t repay evil with evil but give even more to the one who just stole from you…don’t stone the adulterer but let them go without condemnation and help them where they need help…don’t help only the ones who can repay you, but precisely the ones who can’t and leave it to God to repay whatever recompense there’ll be.
This idea is radical, and that’s exactly the point. FOG is foreign to this world, but a DOG can change that. Imagine what an entire worldwide church of us can do.
I must say, lest I be a hypocrite, that I am not the model DOG. I’m definitely still orienting to the concept. But God has taught me that, while writing about, or preaching about, something may not make me exemplary in it, it must challenge me to apply it along with – yea, ahead of – my readers/listeners. So His Spirit is giving me individualized directions as I’m typing. Will you join me by seeking Him for yours? I’ll be your DOG; will you be mine? After all, we are in the FOG.
Outstanding