Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
Thought for the Day: I’m ashamed to say that I can’t remember if I had referenced these words from Richard Rohr or not, but even if I have, they are good enough to repeat. Rohr writes:
God’s freely given grace is a humiliation to the ego because free gifts say nothing about being strong, superior, or moral. Thus only the soul can understand grace, never the mind or the ego. The ego does not know how to receive things freely or without logic.
I still remember my struggle with grace. I grew-up in a sports world, and with a strong competitive nature, I knew that anything worth anything required work. I spoke of God’s grace, but for the longest time, I did not understand it or welcome it. True grace was a humiliation to my ego. If I couldn’t demonstrate my worthiness of such a gift then I wasn’t interested in the gift. Of course, life happens and as you get older you begin to see that you are not always the gift to humanity that your ego attempted to portray. Your failures become more noticeable and your frailties more pronounced. One day you wake up and look in the mirror and realize that though you might be a good human being 82% of the time, you also have moments of shallowness, self-centeredness and downright meanness. And despite all of this, there are those who still love you. And then you realize that even if those people ditched you, God hasn’t and God won’t. Once your ego has been utterly humiliated by grace, then you can move to that place where, with tears in your eyes, you are humbled by grace – humbled by God’s immeasurable love that puts up with your less than good stuff and works to improve this less than good stuff. That’s grace – that’s the gift that is freely given to us by God.
Prayer: I am humbled by the beauty and generosity of your love, O God. May this gift wash over me, spill into me, and change me. I ask this in the name of the one who revealed this gift, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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