The Benefit of Grace

My favorite hobby is being a USA Swimming official. Yes, swim meets really do last forever. No, it's usually not the official's fault that it goes so long. Our most important motto in swim officiating is "the benefit of the doubt always goes to the swimmer." Translated onto the deck it means this:

• If you have to think about what you saw, don't make a call
• If you don't raise your hand immediately (probably because you thought about it), don't make a call
• If you raise your hand for a possible disqualification (it's not a DQ until the referee accepts it and signs the form) and then wonder if you really saw something, put your hand back down
• If your description isn't consistent when interviewed by the Chief Judge or Referee, it will be overturned

In God's Kingdom it's not about doubt but about grace. I've applied this philosophy to Kingdom living a couple of different ways:

• In our relationships, perhaps especially marriage give the benefit of grace
  
• In our Christian living, especially in our relationship to God and grace, be God centered not rule centered. A swim official could be rule centered, i.e. looking for ways to disqualify swimmers. Or that official can be swimmer centered, i.e. looking for ways to keep the swimmer in the water but making sure it's fair to the other swimmers that they are in the water

I've been doing some thinking around this "giving the benefit of grace" way of living. We human beings don't do it very well. I'm not positive I know where this human tendency comes from, other than in general "from sin." But I know it's there. I see it in myself. I experience it from others.

It happens when we don't hear what we want to hear and blame the other person for "having it out for us." It happens when we thought one thing was going to happen and when it didn't we believe it was the other person who promised something and didn't follow through - when what really happened was a misunderstanding. We don't give the benefit of grace to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Instead we question their integrity or character.

When we think one thing and the other person thinks something else, could it be a misunderstanding - a miscommunication - instead of a lack of character or integrity?

When someone doesn't greet us is it because they were trying to avoid us or could it be they didn't see us?

When someone seems aloof - deep in thought - while standing there talking with us - is it because they don't care or could it be they are hurting or emotionally exhausted?

Do you see the difference? Now that I write it I see a possible specific sin root:

• me centered v other centered living - if something goes differently than I thought or hoped it would and it's about me, then you are wrong - if on the other hand it's about you then there must have been a misunderstanding or miscommunication

Maybe that's it. Kingdom living is about the King. Kingdom living is about serving others not ourselves. The benefit of grace is a Kingdom principle. Believing that God always has our best interest at heart, that He's always working things for our good - that's God's grace and our giving Him the benefit of the doubt in the face of what seems like contradictory evidence. While it may be a little harder to believe that other sinful human beings have our best interest at heart and not their own, as Christ-followers that's what we're called to do - I think. Believe in people like God believes in us. That's the Body of Christ at work.

Building on the Right Foundation

I've asked several chronologically gifted people in my life if they ever come to the place where they don't feel like life is under construction. The simple answer in return has always been, "No." But one person did add something. "And thank God."

As we talked more about it he helped me understand that being under construction has everything to do with living. Death means construction is done and while for a Christ follower that means the completion of the journey, arrival at the desired destination. All of life up to that point has been about shaping and molding, renewing and growing into the image of Christ.

Romans 12:1-2 (New Living) "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice-- the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? 2 Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is."

I picked up a book on my desk, opening it this morning to a page that seemed to leap out at me. It's from Eugene Peterson's "A Long Obedience in the Same Direction." Peterson is the translator of "The Message" which we often use at Cornerstone. The book goes through the Psalms of Ascent, used by the Jews as they journeyed to Jerusalem to worship at the Temple. Peterson writes about one of the prayers: "Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue."

"Rescue me from the lies of advertisers who claim to know what I need and what I desire, from the lies of entertainers who promise a cheap way to joy, from the lies of politicians who pretend to instruct me in power and morality, from the lies of psychologists who offer to shape my behavior and my morals so that I will live long, happily and successfully, from the lies of religionists who 'heal the wounds of this people lightly,' from the lies of moralists who pretend to promote me to the office of captain of my fate, from the lies of pastors who 'leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men' (Mk 7:8). Rescue me from the person who tells me of life and omits Christ, who is wise in the ways of the world and ignores the movement of the Spirit." (p. 23)

This is a great prayer for those who want to build on the right foundation. It's so easy to get sucked into lies - "Rescue me, LORD!" is the cry of the kingdom builder. Every lie takes a stone out of the foundation. Every truth puts one back and shores it up. Every lie is like the wind and the waves crashing against our lives. Every truth anchors us to the rock - the Rock.

What are the lies that you've believed?
Where have you found truth, as painful as it may be to hear?
Do you need to be rescued right now from some lies/liars?

Peterson goes on to write:

"The lies are impeccably factual. They contain no errors. There are no distortions or falsified data. But they are lies all the same because they claim to tell us who we are and omit everything about our origin in God and our destiny in God. They talk about the world without telling us that God made it. They tell us about our bodies without telling us that they are temples of the Holy Spirit. They instruct us in love without telling us about the God who loves us and gave Himself for us."

To build the right foundation; to live a kingdom life means looking through the lens of God instead of at God through another lens - the lens of the world. God is the center, not us. May it be so.