Grace and effort, together again.
The subject of discipleship has been burning in my mind and heart, lately. The fire was lit first by learning just what a small percentage of regular church attenders actually “plug in,” then fueled by reading George Barna’s book Growing True Disciples.
Then I ran across an article by Brian McLaren in LeadershipJournal.net, about the difference between “teaching about the Christian life [and] teaching people to live it, enjoy it, practice it.” This is good stuff…
“Many of us were initially hesitant to explore ‘spiritual transformation’ because it required us to learn and teach historic spiritual disciplines. Our resistance, I think, was less a matter of laziness than of doctrine: we worried that spiritual practices… were about earning salvation or achieving God’s approval in a legalistic sense.
“Eventually though, confident that we are saved by grace through faith plus nothing, confident that the gospel means Jesus Christ plus nothing for God’s approval, we have begun to explore Christian practices for the sake of transformation. As Dallas Willard says, we’ve realized that the gospel is opposed to earning but not to effort.” [Emphasis mine. -js.]
In his aforementioned book, Barna contrasts an “eye on the prize” mentality with a “path of least resistance” approach. I hope that in our zeal to make sure seekers understand that it’s only by grace that we’re saved, and that grace covers every sin — both blessedly true, thank God! — we don’t leave the impression that God really doesn’t mind if we make no serious attempts to live a self-disciplined life. On the contrary, for the believer, grace is given to empower us toward Christlikeness, not excuse us from it.
I’m wondering if, looking back over the whole of church history, we might not see a pendulum of popular thought among God’s people swinging back and forth between living in an excess of grace (can there be such a thing?) and an overweening obsession with personal effort. When will we learn that grace and effort can co-exist? I have to confess I see this pattern in my own life, and I see keeping the two in balance as one of my greatest spiritual challenges.
Next entry: To rebuke, or not rebuke, that is the question.
Previous entry: Fun with evolution!