If you were to drive by our house, you would see that Sara loves plants. Our yard is full of flowers, and Sara lovingly tends every one of them.
Which is why I was so afraid when she left town and put me in charge of keeping things alive.
She must have been a little concerned, too, because she sent me two videos with specific instructions on how to water, when to water, and what to do. Honestly, those first two videos helped, but the third one she sent was the one I liked most. In that one, she said, “Please do your best. I want the yard to look good for the family reunion in two weeks. However, if something dies, we will dig it out and pretend that it never existed!”
That is what grace looks like! Try your best, do what you can, but if it goes wrong, it will be ok.
Sometimes we talk as though grace and effort are opposites. That is not true. They are partners.
In one place, scripture asks, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:14-17). It is clear that we must do something!
On the other hand, everyone makes mistakes all the time. Romans 3:23-24 reminds us, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”. Never, ever, separate those two verses. We fail, but God’s grace covers those failures.
Grace does not replace effort or action. Rather, it is the very thing that allows us to be part of God’s work in the first place.
It is never grace or action.
It is always both!
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