For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this not your own doing, it is the gift of God -- not because of works, lest anyone should boast. -- Ephesians 2:8-9
Grace is the logic of a loving God. There is nothing we can do to earn it, win it, or deserve it. Grace is simply a gift, not a reward. We can receive it only by faith, not through good works. As familiar as that is to us, we have great difficulty coming to terms with the meaning and reality of grace. We seem to find innumerable ways to deny the grace that is the free gift of God's love to us. Either we abuse it and make grace self-serving, or we dismiss its reality altogether by acting to establish our own righteousness. In twisting God's purposes to suit our own or in striving to justify ourselves through our own efforts, we have, in fact, denied the grace of God. In so doing, we have denied ourselves the ability to simply rest in that grace, to be changed and used by God's love.
Perhaps the greatest denial of grace in our time lies in its abuse. Dietrich Bonhoeffer named it "cheap grace." The grace of God is cheapened and distorted when used to cover over our sin rather than to cleanse it. The language of grace is impoverished and exploited when employed to justify our disobedience and lukewarmness.
True grace convicts of sin, softens the heart, and prompts repentance. Cheap grace overlooks sin, hardens the heart, and breeds complacency. True grace accepts and redeems the sinner. Cheap grace accommodates to and justifies the sin.
As Bonhoeffer reminds us, grace, which comes at such a heavy cost to God, cannot be used cheaply. Grace is not meant to obscure the path of discipleship and obedience. On the contrary, grace opens that path to us. Cheap grace proclaims salvation without repentance. The evangelism of cheap grace has no real power to challenge either our personal status or the political status quo.
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