The Call for Grace

“Do not be overly righteous nor overly wise— why confound yourself? Do not be overly wicked and do not be a fool— why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not withdraw your hand from the other. For the one who fears God will escape both extremes.” (Ecclesiastes 7:16-18 TLV, emphasis added)

Another epidemic that has accompanied the Coronavirus is the epidemic of loneliness and weakened mental health. As social creatures, we were created with the need to connect with others. At times we are rescued by people, and at times we need to be rescued from people. In any case, we all need interactions with family and friends to maintain a spiritually healthy life.

Our dealings with people can trigger intimacy or estrangement. When we interact, we discover two things about ourselves: who we are and who we are not. When we find common ground with others, we rejoice; and contrarily when we realize our differences, unpleasant conflicts can arise.

Are we called to walk only with those who look and think like us?

The differences we have with one another are the meeting points for God’s grace. It is only through grace that we, in our sins, were connected with heaven, and it is only by grace that we can survive our differences.

Living in diverse harmony has always been my passion. Growing up in tribal Africa, my parents instilled a great sense of pride in our diverse but united identity. My mom and dad came from different tribes, spoke different languages and were raised in different cultures. In fact, I was born when a civil war broke out between their two tribes. On the day I was born, the name given to me by my community and family was “Father of Peace.” Growing up as a mischievous middle child, the calling to father peace was far from my mind, but I always aspired to find the beauty in diverse unity. On the grand scale, the whole world is one community.

A prime enemy of this God-given grace in our lives is extremism. From the above verse, we see that extremism blinds us from seeing ourselves and forces us to focus on blaming others. Hence our extreme thoughts and attitudes become a cause for conflict and unrest. Extremism is not passion. The fire of passion is in love, while the force of extremism is in self-righteousness. Yes, we are called to live passionately, but not in extremism.

In the story of the woman who was surrounded by extreme men ready to stone her for adultery, Yeshua came into the picture and He had a different message―the message of grace. Grace opens our eyes to look at ourselves and remain humble regarding the unknown. Yeshua gracefully reminded that zealous mob that they, too, needed grace. The tumultuous days we live in call for an extra measure of grace to endure and live in unity.