Thoughts on the idea of Grace
It has been said that justice is getting what you deserve, mercy is *not* getting what you deserve, and grace is getting what you do *not* deserve. I don't think this is perfect, of course, but its a good place to start.
So what would justice for humans be? The way I see it is this: God created us to be intimately connected to Him. But because God is so holy, He cannot associate with sin in any way. So the natural, deserved result of our sins is separation from our Creator. That's what I think Hell is. Ultimate, final, permanent separation from our Creator. The only way to fix this would be complete and utter repentance on our part. We would have to turn from our sins so fully that it would be as if our old self had died. This is something that we humans were incapable of. At least, on our own.
Of course, this has been true of most things throughout history that related to God. We need God to show us that He is there, to give us faith. We need God to teach us how to worship Him, and how to pray to Him. We need God to help us live according to His principles. But God had never before had to submit, or to give something up. This is why Jesus had to come to Earth, be human, be tempted in every way but not sin, and ultimately submit utterly and turn away from His flesh completely at the cross. So now, a part of God had been in our shoes! So God's Spirit could now teach us how to turn away from our flesh, teach us how to repent completely and submit fully to God. All we had to was ask and believe that He would answer.
Grace is this: even though the results of our sin should be separation from God forever, if we just ask Him to heal us, admitting we can't do it on our own, then He will do it. Grace is that it doesn't matter if we know all the right things to say, or how many times we screw up again and again. Grace is that God is at work in our hearts even when we are at our very worst. Grace is that none of us can boast, because all of us needed God to heal us. Grace is that we do not have to make ourselves worthy in ANY way. We don't have to understand all the why's and how's and we don't have to memorize lots of Bible verses or sin only a few times a week, or do enough penance or feel bad enough.
Now, many of those things are good things. They are things that we will indeed *want* to do as our hearts are healed. But we are not on a schedule that any many can see. We don't have to get to a certain place at a certain time. There is no need to compare ourselves to others to figure out if God is really working in us. We can try to do what is right because it is good, rather than doing it because we fear the punishment of failure. We try to find right doctrine because we want to understand our Creator, not because we are afraid that if we're wrong we may end up punished forever.
This is grace: that God lowered himself to make us greater, that He did as much as He possibly could, much more than was fair, in His effort to reach us. That God loved us so much that He would endure anything to see us healed.
So what would justice for humans be? The way I see it is this: God created us to be intimately connected to Him. But because God is so holy, He cannot associate with sin in any way. So the natural, deserved result of our sins is separation from our Creator. That's what I think Hell is. Ultimate, final, permanent separation from our Creator. The only way to fix this would be complete and utter repentance on our part. We would have to turn from our sins so fully that it would be as if our old self had died. This is something that we humans were incapable of. At least, on our own.
Of course, this has been true of most things throughout history that related to God. We need God to show us that He is there, to give us faith. We need God to teach us how to worship Him, and how to pray to Him. We need God to help us live according to His principles. But God had never before had to submit, or to give something up. This is why Jesus had to come to Earth, be human, be tempted in every way but not sin, and ultimately submit utterly and turn away from His flesh completely at the cross. So now, a part of God had been in our shoes! So God's Spirit could now teach us how to turn away from our flesh, teach us how to repent completely and submit fully to God. All we had to was ask and believe that He would answer.
Grace is this: even though the results of our sin should be separation from God forever, if we just ask Him to heal us, admitting we can't do it on our own, then He will do it. Grace is that it doesn't matter if we know all the right things to say, or how many times we screw up again and again. Grace is that God is at work in our hearts even when we are at our very worst. Grace is that none of us can boast, because all of us needed God to heal us. Grace is that we do not have to make ourselves worthy in ANY way. We don't have to understand all the why's and how's and we don't have to memorize lots of Bible verses or sin only a few times a week, or do enough penance or feel bad enough.
Now, many of those things are good things. They are things that we will indeed *want* to do as our hearts are healed. But we are not on a schedule that any many can see. We don't have to get to a certain place at a certain time. There is no need to compare ourselves to others to figure out if God is really working in us. We can try to do what is right because it is good, rather than doing it because we fear the punishment of failure. We try to find right doctrine because we want to understand our Creator, not because we are afraid that if we're wrong we may end up punished forever.
This is grace: that God lowered himself to make us greater, that He did as much as He possibly could, much more than was fair, in His effort to reach us. That God loved us so much that He would endure anything to see us healed.