He said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (II Corinthians 12:9 ESV)
The Weakness of Grace
Perhaps it sounds strange to refer to Grace as weak. We know that God’s Grace is powerful enough to snuff out every spark of sin in our hearts and lives. The Grace of God is unstoppable, unopposable, and unavoidable, when God sets His love on you.
But there is this odd and wonderful weakness in Grace.
If we add anything to Grace, it is no longer Grace. When we think that we need to help Grace along with our good intentions, we end up with a Grace/us hybrid that no longer is Grace. When we think that we need to make Grace better by adding our good behavior, we end up with a Grace/works hybrid that no longer is Grace. When we think that we need to make Grace stronger by adding our thoughts, words, or deeds, we end up with a Grace/US hybrid that is no longer Grace.
Grace stops being Grace, slipping away into meaningless mumbo-jumbo the moment we add anything of our own to it.
Grace is only Grace when Grace is all God, and not us. Grace is only Grace when Grace is nothing but pure 100% concentrated God’s doing. Grace is only Grace when Grace is something we only receive, only accept, only bask in. Grace is only Grace when our part is not merely small, but non-existent.
The weakness of Grace lies in this. It is fragile. Grace stops being Grace, slipping away into meaningless mumbo-jumbo, the moment we add anything of our own to it.
Stop trying to improve Grace. It is wonderfully free, amazingly one-sided, shockingly generous. And therein lies Grace’s strength, power, and necessity.
The doubly-amazing thing is, though, that even when we foolishly forget how free Grace is, Christ on the cross paid for that sin, too.
Only Grace.