Hope with Grace – Part Five

This absolutely essential truth that “Hope arises from Grace” is a major theme in the Bible.

“Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.”[1]

Let us consider how we apply these truths to our vocation as Christian educators.

We must stop cheapening grace by communicating it as a “sloppy indulgence”.

I cringe when I hear teachers say things like – “I’m going to allow you to submit your assignment late; I’m giving you a grace period.”

Why do I find that cringeworthy? Mainly because grace always involves a high cost for the grace-giver. Giving an extra twenty-four hours for assignment completion involves minimal, if any, cost to the one granting the extension. Let’s not cheapen important concepts by inappropriate use.

The saving grace of God seen through the crucifixion of Jesus, was the most costly event in all history. The ongoing grace of God every moment of our lives is also costly.

The continuing grace of God is a constant initiative that He makes in our lives. We continue in our failures and our sin; He continues in His love and His grace. We continue in our refusal to trust Him totally; He continues to pour His love into our hearts. We continue to frequently ignore Him and live our lives selfishly; He continues to bring us back to the truth that He loves us by His choice. We continue to complain about our circumstances and our disappointments; He continues to love us in our negative responses. We continue to give Him half-hearted worship; He continues to give us the fullness of His grace.

What does this mean for the way we are to live in our school community? We are simply to reflect the nature of God into the lives of others. We are to love our students however “undeserving” we think they might be. We are to love our office colleagues no matter how difficult to get along with we might judge them.

Blessings this week, as we keep walking the road of faith-filled and faithful disciples of Jesus, Brian

 

 

[1] 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17