In Christianity, we often call things we receive for free as grace. For example, the salvation is the grace from God. We didn't pay for it. Nor do we get it out of our repentance, rebirth or faith, which are the results of the grace rather than the reasons why he gave us grace.
A common mistake we make is that we regard the result as the reason, holding that God decides to give us grace because of our faith. Some may tell you that grace will never fall upon you if you don't have faith, instead, you have to obtain grace through your faith. However, this is completely wrong.
Grace is grace. It's not because of us, but because the merciful God is selfless, who gives grace for no return.
As Christians, we need God's grace every day, which is the driving force of our ministry and the fountain of our spiritual lives. It's like that nobody pays for the sunshine, air or rain in the world, but they are fuels of our lives and what we need. Nevertheless, many people don't consider "familiar things" as grace, absent from the gratitude to God for many wonderful things in the nature. So do a large percentage of Christians. They are lost in the familiar grace and can't even give thanks to God for their ordinary life. In the familiar grace, grace is not seen as grace anymore but what we deserve.
When the Israelites just came into the wilderness, they almost took nothing to eat for they left Egypt in a hurry. So God nearly rained down manna to feed people every day. In the beginning, they may feel grateful, but the manna became their excuse to oppose God after some time. They claimed that they lost their appetite after eating this disgusting thing every day and wanted to have eaten. What was worse, they started to trample on the grace, arguing that they sat around pots of meat in Egypt and ate them free of charge. Was that true? No, they had nothing in Egypt except being beaten. Unconscionable, they said such words to protest the familiar grace.
Coincidentally, the people asked how God had loved them when God said, "I have loved you." (Malachi 1:2) We can see that the Israelites didn't take the familiar grace as grace.
We shouldn't follow them. God's grace is like drizzle that moistens all things softly, rather than a roller coaster that stimulates you stronger from day to day. In our ordinary life, we will forget the drought of the yesterday and take the moisture for granted if we are fed up with the taste of grace.
In the book of Ezekiel, God criticized the Israelites who worshiped the idols for they lived a comfortable life:
Ezekiel 16:3-16 ... and say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.
" 'Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!" I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked.
" 'Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.
" 'I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.
" 'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his. You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.
Bathed in the grace, they seemed to show off themselves. Isn't that what we look like? We may feel that God does something wrong against us while in his grace. So have a simple grateful heart. There may be no stimulation or clash, but your life will be a testimony of his grace.
Translated by Karen Luo
