Grace and Grit*3 min read

As we bask in the glow of the resurrection, we celebrate the grace of God. The Father has reconciled us to Himself through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The Holy Spirit has brought us into a faith relationship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Grace. Pure. Complete. All by God.

But to accomplish this for us you could say it took “grit” on God’s part. He gave His promise and kept it. He kept it when His people time and time turned away. He kept it when His people had dull ears and hardened hearts. He kept it when His patience was tried and His people were rebellious.

Grit, as in courage, resolve, strength of character, certainly describes Jesus.

What can we say about Jesus except that His ministry was a display of gritty grace? It was a fulfillment of Isaiah 50:7: “Therefore I have set my face like a flint.” When His disciples tried to dissuade Him from Jerusalem, He walked forward. When He faced the trials before the Jewish leaders, Herod, and Pilate, He remained “flint faced,” determined to go the way of the cross. I cannot imagine the horror—and your imagination can’t be any better—of the cross. Add to that the agony of the judgment of the Father for the sins of you and the rest of the world. Horror transcended by agony.

Grit indeed. Grit in Him that led to grace for us. Easter celebrates grace born from grit.

But now as we, the Church, the people of God, live in the grace of God, we are called to work the work of the Gospel, the work of the Kingdom. God has committed to us the message of reconciliation as His ambassadors for the world.

What does it take to be ambassadors for this lost and hurting world? What does it take to share the Gospel of grace to a world in rebellion? What does it take to be aliens and strangers in this lost world?

Grit.

After Paul’s eloquent explanation of God’s grace in Christ and all that comes from the victory of the resurrection, he calls Christians to a life of grit: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58). There are any number of similar calls for Christians to work hard, endure, suffer, and sacrifice as we follow Jesus by reaching out to the world with the Gospel.

There are challenges to the Church these days. (Not sure when that wasn’t the case.) Opposition abounds. Our privileged place in the culture has evaporated. Interest and activity in congregational life flags. Numbers shrink. Church doors close.

God grant us grit.

This is no time to wring our hands. This is no time to hang our heads. This is no time to shrink back and be destroyed (Hebrews 10:39). This is no time simply to insulate ourselves from the world.

God grant us grit.

Let’s redouble our effort to share God’s grace with the people around us. Is there a new ministry your congregation can begin? Is there a neighbor who needs to see and hear the love of Jesus? Are there partnerships your congregation can develop with another? Can you begin steps toward greater “parochial education” ministry, perhaps opening a homeschool learning pod? Are there some things your congregation should quit doing to free up energy and resources for something new?

People turn away. Dull ears and hardened hearts abound. Our patience is tried as rebellion persists.

Kingdom work now and always takes grit. Grace is free to the receiver but requires gritty resolve on behalf of the giver. Having received God’s grace born of His grit, may we too become people of gritty grace. Let us join Jesus and work, with grit, while it is day until night comes and we cannot.

*I owe the idea of grit in this context to a conversation with the District’s Vice-Presidents Davenport, Andrzejewski, Bickel, and Cloeter.

_{Photo © Pearl/Lightstock}