Cheap Grace and a Bowl of Soup

 

"And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me, cannot be my disciple."- Luke 14:27

I grew up in a mostly Baptist family.  I also got a good dose of Methodism and a few warning shots from Church of Christ relatives.  But the message I heard loud and clear was to believe that Jesus was the only begotten Son of God, that He died for my sins and rose on the third day…confess that or spend eternity in the fires of Hell.  So, at the ripe old age of ten, after hearing a sermon about a selfish Rich Man and a poor beggar named Lazarus, I walked down the aisle and “accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior”.  I was as sincere and as a frightened as a ten year-old boy could be; therefore I did what was necessary to avoid punishment.  I accepted Christ and He accepted me.  What a relief.  If only I had known what it really meant to be a Christ-follower.

As I grew older and discovered things like beer and girls, I grabbed the wheel of my life and proceeded to systematically move Jesus to the passenger side, then to the backseat and finally put him in the trunk.  I was still a “believer”, went to church occasionally; and might even read the Bible and pray when times got hard.  But my priorities were not God’s priorities; and in the end, as it says in The Book, you cannot serve two masters.

I ran in circles where most people didn’t talk much about God other than in profanities.  The few who admitted to being believers were mostly like me, content to stay on “the front porch” of the faith enjoying the blessed assurance of salvation and counting on their fire insurance.  Some still gave time and money to their church.  Those who were serious about their faith did more.  The Baptists were all about witnessing.  Do you know Jesus?  Say you believe, get baptized and go bring some more folks to church.  Cheap grace.  The Methodists and most of the other “mainline” denominations seemed to be more interested in charitable activities and just being respectable citizens who could check the right boxes.  Show we are Christians by our love… and give them a bowl of soup.

Witnessing, sharing your faith and being a good neighbor are foundational to being Christ-followers.  These are surely good things. But something was missing. When the covers were pulled back most believers’ lives weren’t much different from the non-believers.  Certainly mine was not. We clung to our “belief”, to our “faith”; but our actions betrayed us.  We might say the right things and even do some of the right things; but most of us were just Christ fans, not followers.  We were hypocrites at best, heretics at worst.

Now late in life, I realize that one can waste their life doing the wrong things while still believing the right things.  Cheap grace is not what God is offering.  The grace He offers costs Him everything.  While we can do nothing to earn God’s grace and mercy; if we are to accept it, we must accept it on His terms…and that is not cheap.