Scripture: Ephesians 2:8 to 10 BSB
8 For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
A clenched fist is excellent for hanging on to something. It is pretty lousy at receiving a gift.
All week we have been talking about what fear does when we cannot control the outcome. We tighten our grip. We protect. We manage. We try to make sure nothing gets away from us. Sometimes we do that with money or plans. Sometimes we do it with power. Sometimes we do it with people.
Faith keeps asking us to open our hands.
Paul puts two enormous New Testament words right beside each other in Ephesians 2: grace and faith. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.” God gives without merit. We trust Him enough to receive what we could never accomplish on our own.
Which means Christian faith has always depended on something we cannot control. We do not save ourselves. We do not earn our way into the family. This is not a meritocracy. We do not negotiate a deal for our salvation. We receive a gift.
And once we start realizing how much of our life with God begins with receiving, another question starts creeping in. What happens when people who live by grace encounter people who need grace from us?
Because we can become very comfortable receiving grace from God while keeping an astonishingly detailed accounting system for everybody else.
That is where we are going Sunday.
We have spent this week asking what the church would look like if we actually trusted Jesus when we could not control the outcome. Next we are going to ask what kind of people that trust should produce when somebody else fails, disappoints us, hurts us, irritates us, or simply does not deserve what we are being asked to give.
For now, try to notice where your hand is clenched. Ask God whether fear is making you hold something too tightly, and practice opening your hand. Grace is received that way. And eventually, grace is given that way too.