Saturday was a great day.
Oh, it was cold and windy, but the sun was shining brightly. We were surrounded by thousands of smiling faces. There were crazy costumes. There was food. There was laughter. There were cowbells and bagpipes. It was wonderful.
There was also enough healing in my knee to run 6.2 miles through the city of Holyoke, MA with about 7,000 other people dressed in all variations of green attire. It was the annual St. Patrick’s Day 10K race, and as usual, it was a really fun way to begin spring in New England.
(Though we are having another snowstorm today. Hello, Toby.)
I ran the course high-fiving as many little kids as I could. (I try and beat my record for this each year.) They line almost the entire six miles with their family and friends, holding their hands out and even counting how many high fives they can get. It’s so cute, and I love indulging them in their fun.
The air was crisp, but not bitter, and the entire experience filled my heart and mind with gratitude for something theologians have termed “common grace.”
Here’s how Tim Keller defines common grace:
“a non-saving grace that is at work in the broader reaches of human cultural interaction. This gift of God’s grace to humanity in general demonstrates a desire on God’s part to bestow certain blessings on all human beings, believer and non-believer alike.”
And here’s how Wayne Grudem puts it:
“Common Grace is the grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation.”
And here’s a summary of what Abraham Kuyper, who may have been the first to write about the concept, said:
“Because God rules over all creation and all men, He gives them grace to live in His world and carry out their calling. And because man is radically and totally depraved, God shows all men favor by holding their sin in check so that they are able to live together in society and so that His church can live and grow in the world.”
I saw it everywhere on Saturday. Happy people, young and old. Families laughing together. Dads running while pushing strollers with napping babies. Groups of friends gathered to cheer and eat and drink together. Runners encouraging one another. Good causes being championed. A mostly low-income city coming together for a beneficial event. Hugs and kisses. Music. Thick Fair Isle sweaters. Funnel Cakes with powdered sugar.
Common grace.
Thousands of people – both those who trust in Christ, and even those who reject Him – enjoying “innumerable blessings” and positive, uplifting “human cultural interaction.”
I thanked God that He enabled me to see and enjoy His gifts of grace all around.
And then I spent time on the treadmill at Planet Fitness Tuesday morning.
While I had a wonderfully edifying sermon playing in my earbuds, I was surrounded by gigantic television screens declaring the day’s Breaking News…
A fifth bomb explosion in Austin. (Were my son, his fiancee, my sister, her family, my friends anywhere nearby?)
A school shooting in Maryland. (How many this time? Is my town next?)
A woman killed by a driverless Uber car. (Is our technology killing us?)
An abortion rights protest in Washington. (When will we call it by its other name: Child Sacrifice?)
Three court cases over allegations of sexual assault by our President? (When did we decide that business sense trumps strength of character in our leaders? Pun intended.)
Last night I sat in a salon chair getting my hair cut by Allison. We talked about our kids and what a tense, anxiety-inducing culture they are growing up in. We had both been watching the horrific news cycle the day before and agreed that this may be among the most harrowing times in the history of our country to be living. Unrestrained evil abounds more and more.
“Why do you think this is happening?” was her point blank question to me.
Allison has the gift of open-ended-question-asking, and I love this about her. It always makes for wonderful, personal conversation and many connecting points, but I was not expecting this deeper one.
In a nutshell, I had to say that I thought it was because God was lifting some of the previous “common grace” He’s shielded us with. (Robert sometimes calls it a force field.) I had to highlight the historically abundant mercy and grace He has granted us, and wonder aloud if He’s currently giving us more of what we demand in our selfishness and less of what we really need in our depravity, because we have continually rejected Him.
And really, even this is a grace. That He would allow an uptick in the evil around us in order to turn our hearts back to Him may be what some have called a severe mercy.
It’s as if God is saying…You want to have it your way? Ok, let me give you a little taste. Just a little one though, because you could not withstand depravity and evil in its fullness. Indeed, you would be dead on the spot.
Common grace is given in expectation of individual hearts recognizing the Who behind that grace, and humbling themselves before Him. But we don’t. We take it for granted. We think we deserve it. We worship the things He gives rather than Him as the originator of the gifts.
The first chapter of Romans describes this ongoing phenomenon:
“…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Romans 1: 19-21
There is evidence of God’s truth, goodness, and beauty all around us, but we either deny it or take the credit for ourselves.
Our speculations are futile. Our hearts are foolish and have become numb and darkened. All we can see is ourselves.
And so…
“God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1: 28-32
I did not quote the Bible to Allison, but she does have some church background, and she seemed to agree that God is possibly “giving us over” to our depravity. We don’t just engage in greed, murder, arrogance, envy, and hatred of God, we give hearty approval to these behaviors with our money, our vote, and our Facebook diatribes and “likes.”
And yet, in spite of all this rebellion, He still allows us to draw breath, to feel the sun on our face, to laugh with friends, to enjoy friendship and romance and laughter, and to have strength and health enough to run 6.2 miles.
May we acknowledge the grace in those things. May we worship the Giver of them all.
Here’s Tim Keller’s full definition of Common Grace. Really helpful and worth the short read.
(And for those friends who are enjoying the benefits of common grace only…can I tell you about the even more abundant gifts that come with the “special grace” of salvation in Christ? They are pretty incredible. In fact, they are literally life-saving, and I’d love to tell you more if you’d like, because the era of common grace does not last forever.)
I couldn’t help but leave a comment today! Early this morning my son told me that he received that “special grace” that can only come from Jesus Christ. God has been at work in my son’s tender heart and what a day to rejoice! Parenting in this culture can completely overwhelm me at times, but I praise God for His word and His promises. And I’m thankful for words of wisdom through people like you. Thank you, Melanie.
Courtney! Thank you so much for sharing. That is the best kind of grace a mom can experience – aside from her own “special grace” ! Rejoicing with you today. ❤️
Melanie, you wrote, “I had to highlight the historically abundant mercy and grace He has granted us.” I’m wondering if you could say more about this. Who exactly do you mean by “us”? Christians? Americans? All people? And when you say “historically abundant,” how far back in history are you writing about? Because for all the mercy and grace and beauty and goodness in the world (and I think there’s a lot of it!), there has always been suffering. There have always been people struggling to escape from slavery and violence, to fill their bellies, to battle disease, to eke out a living, even as others in the world have been blessed with charmed lives.
And I’m struck by the idea that God might be withdrawing common grace – that God would actively allow terrible things to happen in order to turn people’s hearts back to God. That’s a tough pill to swallow. You believe that God would just allow children to be gunned down in their schools, allow their families to be destroyed, simply because these kids had the misfortune of being born (at God’s direction, presumably) into a broken culture, and because letting them be murdered would be a good way to get everyone else’s attention? Would you say to the face of a Parkland or Sandy Hook parent that their child’s death is a “grace” or a “severe mercy”?
I sincerely believe that this is not something a good God could or would do, period. (The problem of evil is probably the single most important factor in my reluctantly concluding that God does not exist, as much as I loved growing up in the church.)
It makes far more sense, in my mind, that life is just innately unfair (why do you and I get to enjoy things like safe homes and happy marriages, for example, while a Rohingya woman watches her husband and children be killed and endures gang-rape before being made a refugee?); that awful things (and wonderful things) can and do happen to anyone, sometimes totally at random, regardless of how “good” or “bad” or believing or God-fearing people are; and that we all have a duty to use our privileges to ease the suffering of our neighbors and fellow travelers on this planet, because we are all in this together.
Thank you for your posts, and wishing you the best – I always enjoy reading your thoughtful and passionate writing, even when I disagree with your conclusions. (And thanks for reading this overlong comment!)
Hello C ~ Thank you for commenting. I truly appreciated reading your thoughts. My response may seem simplistic, and it will be rooted in the truths that I believe are found in the Bible, but I will attempt to elaborate a bit.
I think humans are solely responsible for evil. They were given the opportunity to live in a world free of evil, but when presented with a choice, they chose to rebel against God’s one directive. In doing so, they unleashed evil, corruption, and brokenness into the world. God let their choice and its far reaching consequences stand. (Though He had a plan for its eventual healing and restoration and still does.)
The consequence of human rebellion against God was death. They knew it up front and still chose it. But in God’s grace and mercy, they did not die on the spot. They were still given the opportunity to live and breathe, and bear children, and cultivate the earth, and be in community with others. That the God of the universe, their very Creator, holy, sovereign, all powerful and perfectly just did not give them the justice they deserved was a great mercy.
I believe God has been holding back the full force of the evil humans unleashed ever since. I don’t really ask Him anymore, “How could you let this happen?” Instead, I pray “Thank you actively preventing it from happening more often.”
We don’t deserve His mercy. We deserve death. But because He is kind and patient, He holds back death and evil to a degree I don’t think we can even fathom. Even more astonishing is that He provides Himself the blood sacrifice required for atonement for sin and forgiveness in Jesus. He knows we could not ever pay the penalty for our rebellion, so He paid it Himself. We need only acknowledge our need for it.
I guess your comment also made me wonder a couple of things: You say the problem of evil is what keeps you from believing that God exists, but how did you even come to believe in the concept of evil? Where do your notions of good and evil come from? Why is gang rape wrong? Why do you care about loss of young schoolchildren’s lives? I believe that our internal sense of justice ~ rape is abhorrent, murder is wrong, slavery is unjust and oppressive ~ comes from being created in the image of the One who is perfectly just, thoroughly good, and full of love and compassion. Image means “replica” (in the Genesis creation story) and we are little replicas of our Creator. His ways and laws are written on our hearts. To me it is the only explanation for our universal agreement on what is right and what is wrong.
Also, if you have concluded that God doesn’t exist, what do you do with Jesus? The man who claimed to be God in the flesh? How do you explain the origins of the world? The incredible complexity of the human body and mind? I think it takes much more faith to believe those things happened by chance and evolution than that God created them.
And no, I would never tell the parent of a child murdered in a school shooting that God was using the tragedy to get our/their attention. That is a moment for grief, mourning with those who mourn, and an abundance of compassion. (Jesus actually modeled this for us.) But do I believe that God uses the evil that He allowed a human to choose (gunning down children) for good and redemptive purposes? Yes, I do. Doesn’t He also allow the alcoholic to hit rock bottom (even if it comes with the collateral damage of an abused family, and murder by drunk driving) in order to turn that person from their destructive ways? And don’t I, as a parent, both impose discipline and also allow for the natural consequences of unwise choices, so that my child will turn from their rebellion and foolishness? Yes, I do. Anything else would be unloving.
The love, patience, and long-suffering of God are astounding to me. If you read the Old Testament, you see clearly how long He tolerates His own people denying Him and defiling His name. He lets it go on for hundreds and hundreds of years with only a handful of consequences, but then He eventually allows them to be conquered and exiled by enemy nations. They know it is a consequence for their worship of idols and in many ways it turns their hearts back to Him. It may sound egotistical of Him, but it’s not. He alone is worthy of their affections, since He is a Holy God, and He knows that being back in right relationship with Him is what is best for them. He begins with patience and gentleness, but eventually “gives them over” to their evil ways.
One last thing…and I hope you will read this with the gentleness, yet earnestness I intend…I have to say that I think it is extremely audacious to demand that God, if He exists, be “good” according to your finite understanding. If He is truly God, we humbly submit ourselves to His version of good, not our own.
(And sorry for my delay in responding. I not only needed to give it some thought and prayer, but I also had a full day!)
Hi Melanie – my sincere thanks for your very thoughtful response, and apologies for my own delay in responding! I appreciate the time and care you took in reflecting on my comment.
There’s so much I could say, but I don’t want to ask you to read (or write!) another set of long comments, so I will just offer a few thoughts. First of all, I will point to evolution as my answer to a number of questions you posed, including the incredible complexity of the human body and mind, as well as to my innate sense (and yours, and humans’ generally) of morality. I understand that we’re coming from very different starting points on this (I’m not sure if you believe in evolution at all), but it’s quite satisfying (from my point of view) to see that the study of evolution can in fact readily explain the complexity of human beings, including their sense of morality and notions of good and evil, without the need for a supernatural creator. I don’t deny that we are breathtaking creatures, but we have millions of years of evolution to thank for that. (As for the origins of our world, this, too, has been thoroughly and convincingly outlined by science. I will grant that I don’t know what started the Big Bang! And as for what I do with Jesus? I view him, as many people of other faiths or no faith do, as a wise, loving, and radical teacher.)
And I guess I’m still struggling (perhaps because I did not grow up in a Calvinist branch of Christianity) with the idea that God actively gives people over to evil. Can you imagine giving up on your own children in this way? And I actually think what you are arguing is even worse, because this isn’t just a case of a human parent advocating discipline and natural consequences – this is God being all-powerful, all-knowing, and still choosing to create human beings with the foreknowledge that they will commit terrible acts, standing by passively while they carry them out, and then pointing to those acts as a reason to get back in right relationship with God. The whole idea feels both convoluted and cruel.
I know that we are coming from different places, and that you may feel like I’m just failing to grasp that as a mere human being, I can’t presume to say how God should or should not act. But I’ve thought (and prayed – I actually have an MDiv) about this for many years, and while there’s always a chance that I will end up being wrong, I feel at peace with my belief that God does not exist, and that evolution and science are trustworthy tools for understanding the world and our place in it. I would offer my own gentle and earnest encouragement to spend some time sincerely trying to understand the perspective of those whose good faith (as it were) reflections and ponderings have brought them to a similar place. I imagine that if God exists, God will not look unkindly on such questioning – and surely a faith that has been questioned, and, having been questioned, reaffirmed, is the kind of faith worth living.
This is already longer than I intended, so I’ll close here! Thanks again for your gracious and thought-provoking reply. I hope that you and your family have a restful and reflective Holy Week, and a joyous Easter!
Hello C – Thank you for elaborating on the foundation and conclusions of your faith journey. I am always intrigued by the worldview of others’ and how they reached it.
I guess I’ve felt somewhat indoctrinated by the theory of evolution my whole life – from elementary school, through high school sciences, to college level biology (where we were required to memorize all of the supposed stages from chimpanzee to Homo sapiens), astronomy, and chemistry courses. I was also required to teach the theory to students in my student teaching prior to graduation. I think it was the short film I showed a group of 5th graders that may have been the final straw for me. In it, the students were told without question that dogs that spent a lot of time by the seashore had evolved into dolphins over time. This led me to my own investigations upon which I discovered that evolution is exactly what it hardly ever gets billed as: a theory.
There really wasn’t any evidence for the in-between stages of the dog-to-dolphin phenomenon, and so it goes for many other macro evolutionary ideas. I have no trouble with micro evolution and feel there is much evidence for it.
My understanding regarding evolution is also that it should result in an improved situation, species, culture, climate. When I look at the world around me, though, I don’t see improvement or the movement toward life and flourishing. I see decline and entropy and decay. (This understanding of mine may have an evolutionary answer that I am not aware of, as I don’t really keep abreast of the evolutionist understanding in this area, though I probably should.)
I suppose evolution leaves me with many more unanswered questions and inconsistencies than does biblical theology.
Regarding Jesus, I’m guessing you are familiar with the “Lord, lunatic, liar” question. Jesus can’t really be revered by anyone as a good teacher or exemplary human if He also claimed to be God Himself. (He went to His death because of this as you well know.) Maybe you are of the “historical Jesus” quest in that you think his disciples created a religion that Jesus never intended. I think the evidence contrary to that is extremely convincing, not only by the witness of the biblical manuscripts but in the deaths those disciples experienced in defending it.
I appreciate you wishing me a joyous Holy Week and Easter. Though it is probably difficult for you to understand, celebrating the sacrifice that a Holy God made on my behalf makes it one of the most meaningful weeks of the year for me.
I know there is so much more that we could cover, and if you are ever interested in doing that here or via email or in person (I am not completely certain of who you are) I’d be happy to.
Hi Melanie…Just wanted to encourage you this evening to continue to “Stand Up. Be strong for Jesus. Go now. Be strong for Jesus.” Those were my daddy’s marching orders to me just before he left this earth for heaven 19 years ago today. Jesus, the radiance of God, has become sweeter and sweeter to me all through these years. The wisdom of man is foolishness to God and there certainly is much foolishness these days. Man is without excuse to not recognize his Creator. Jack and I send you much love, blessings and blue skies. K&J
Thank you K & J. 💗