A Real Good Thing

This week's song is "A Real Good Thing" by Newsboys. The song is available on Youtube, Apple Music, Spotify, and probably everything else.

The chorus:

When we don't get what we deserve,
That's a real good thing, a real good thing.
When we get what we don't deserve,
That's a real good thing, a real good thing.

When we don't get what we deserve, that's mercy.
When we get what we don't deserve, that's grace.

It can be easy to mix up the meaning of grace and mercy. Their definitions get sort of blurry. They are close in practice and close in result, but the approach is very different. Perhaps they are different sides of the same coin.

Searching for a definition of grace results in generic terminology often referring to the stature of someone as they walk or dance. It can also be the prayer before a meal. Grace is important. It's surprising that its definition is so evasive. The definition of grace I want to write about here is alluded to above. Grace is when we get what we don't deserve. In the Christian faith, we don't deserve salvation. It is given regardless of what we have done. It's given freely.

Mercy. Caught red-handed. Guilty as hell and there's no hope for a path forward. This is when mercy is applied. We receive mercy when we are guilty but we are allowed to move forward anyway. Mercy is when we don't get what we deserve.

We, mere mortals, can receive mercy and grace from the Almighty freely. What about our fellow man? Can we freely give as we have freely received. Ah. That got real. In this day of modern social media we have little room for mercy and grace. It's much, much easier to simply point to how I am right and you are obviously wrong. After all, if you were right, then that would make me wrong – and that can't possibly be the case.

I learned an important lesson early in my college career, way back in the early 1990s. Seems ridiculous to refer to the 1990s as way back. I grew up in the Baptist church, but I decided to go to a Church of Christ university. There were several reasons for this, but I've determined over the years that this is simply where God led me, and where I needed to be.

Culture shock hit me pretty hard. It wasn't that things were bad, they were just different, and I didn't understand why. Asking around, many of my peers couldn't really give me the answers I needed. So I had to do the research myself, and own the conclusions I came too.

The biggest question I had was "what's the deal with all the a cappella?" I trotted off to the library to dig around in the card catalog and found a few resources. I visited the campus bookstore and found a few more. To be frank, I couldn't find any compelling reason, biblically or otherwise, for a cappella to be exclusively used in church services or in chapel. I understood the arguments. I could follow the thinking. It just didn't seem like sound logic to me.

How could an entire church movement practice something at every meeting that I couldn't even find logic for. I know my non-faith readers are probably laughing at that last line, but hear me out. It took me a while, but it finally hit me. This group of people came to this conclusion honestly. Decisions are never simple, they are layered with personal history, up bringing, social influence, and more. This new culture I had been thrust into came to their decisions that same way that I and my own culture had. It occurred to me that they weren't wrong.

Turns out, I really like a cappella. I'm not sure that I would have ever chosen it on purpose, but I've found throughout the last 30 years that I really enjoy praising God through it. I currently attend a church that has three services and we've opted as a family to go to the first service which is a cappella. I swore during college that I would never wake up before 8:00 am for an event unless it was important. So here I am, getting up before 8:00 am.

So what about my upbringing where we had instruments? Do I condemn it? No. I think there is room for all sorts of worship. I greatly enjoy music. A very large percentage of the music I listen to is Christian music – just not that junk you hear on the radio.

So what do we do with all this? These days when I come across a view that I don't agree with, I take a step back. Even if I can't find a valid point in it whatsoever, I try to to view the idea from a different perspective. This isn't easy, and probably not very accurate. I don't start pointing fingers. I do start asking questions. I throw a little grace at it. I try to understand the point of view. I realize that people are different. We come to different conclusions. We come to them honestly. I sure do wonder about some people's logic though.

Instead of driving more wedges in our divisions, maybe it's time to start conversations. Ask questions. Perhaps rather than jumping to conclusions, we can pursue why or how someone got to where they are and hope for reciprocation. That's not easy. It may not even be possible. It's worth a try.

Waste some grace and mercy on someone today. Surely doing so will bring about a cohesiveness that is greatly needed these days. We are so divided these days, perhaps a little mercy and grace is what we need.