While not all Christians appreciate its full magnitude, the simple fact is that ‘God is a giver’! From creation, through Abraham and Israel, God has been pouring out his grace on humanity. God’s grace was seen most potently in Jesus; yet continues to be poured out even today.
Now because it is God’s grace to give, we cannot force his hand. All we can do is put ourselves in the path of God’s grace, where we will be most likely to be hit by it. Although the phrase has slipped out of Christian language today, this path has traditionally been referred to as ‘the means of grace’.
The means of grace are not health, wealth and prosperity; for they are only fleeting blessings. The means of grace are those things that give us more OF God, and make us more LIKE God. The primary means of grace are (i) Bible reading, (ii) prayer and (iii) the Sunday gathering. Other examples include Christian meditation, serving, tithing, gifts to the poor and the sacraments.
Sadly, many Christians see these things as burdens that Christians are duty bound to fulfil. This leads some to feel guilty if they are not doing them, while others point to ‘salvation by grace alone’ as an excuse to make these things optional in the Christian life (i.e. ‘I can skip church once a month’). Yet what such Christians fail to realise is that if we are not engaging in God’s ‘means of grace’, we’re actually missing out on God’s blessings to his people. Those who skip church are like the man who has been lost is a desert for 3 days, grabbing the cold drink he’s been offered, then tipping it out. May we not be so foolish, but embrace the grace God has offered us.
Brendan McLaughlin
