The Pressures of Grace, Part II

In my last post I asked, “What makes service worth it?”

In thinking about this question, I’ve gone back a few steps.

The question came in meditating on the difficulty of service. If you’ve got any fear-based motivation in you at all, reading Scripture is a hazardous activity, as Jesus is no word-mincer. For instance, there’s that bit about “Whatsoever you do (or don’t do) to the least of brothers, you do (or don’t do) to me.” So–does guilt set in any time you pass a panhandler without making a contribution, or if you refuse to do someone a favor?

Logic says that you’re not going to “do for others” every single minute of every single day, which can easily lead, in Fear-Guilt Land, to the thought that you’re letting Jesus down. But other bits of Scripture say “Be not afraid” and “Perfect love casts out fear.” Maybe grace isn’t applying pressure. Maybe fear is.

It’s not that service isn’t difficult, or that looking at all that needs to be done to get this world looking like the Kingdom of God (as some of us believe we’ve been called to do) won’t inspire the occasional panic attack. But I look at people who are good at doing for others, and they do not have backs bent double under the weight. They look happy. (And remember–I specified this applies to the people who are good at it. I also know people who do get bent double under the weight. They don’t look happy.)

What can get us thinking less about the pressure and more about the privilege of serving? Maybe something as simple as changing our vocabulary.

Maybe service is “not a burden, but an adventure,” as Bono put it.

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