Someone posed this question to me the other day: is grace your worldview or is it your calling? I thought it was an interesting question and I have wrestled with it for the past couple of days.  To me, what it implies is that it’s one thing to have grace as a worldview–that’s an internal, personal thing.  It’s another thing to be called to proclaim that worldview to others–that’s an external manisfestation.  At least that how I interpreted the question.

There are lots of people whose worldview is also their calling.  I look at some of my green friends.  They have a worldview of ecology and conservation but they are so open about trying to get others to adopt this worldview too.  They proclaim it wherever they go and without hesitation.  I look at some of my friends that are really involved in social justice.  Same thing.  they are committed to these ideals, they have fully internalized them and made them a part of how they think and live and see the world.  And they will let you know it!  They don’t keep their views a secret and they actively  encourage others to see and think likewise.  I look at some of my fundamentalist friends and the same can be said.  They have a way of seeing and they want everyone to see the same, for better or worse.

So, is grace my worldview or is it more than that?  Would me friends and family know from our interactions that this is what is so important to me?  Would Joanne see it in the kind of husband I am?  Would my kids see it in the way I parent?  Would friends even know that  I see the world through this lens?  Or is it a “best kept secret?”

I guess my struggle is figuring gout how to bring it to bear in real life situations.   How should I go about bringing it up?  For example, I was on the phone with a good friend yesterday and he was talking about some challenges that he is facing.  I suppose it would have been a good time to talk to him about the fact that God is with him whether he sense it or not and that in his grace God will stand with him as he faces his challenges.  I would have liked to have said all that!  But in the moment it didn’t come out.  So how would he possibly know how important grace is to me and how important it could be to him.

So I don’t have an answer to this questions yet, but I do have a commitment.  I want people to know, to be transformed, by an sustained interaction with the God of grace.  In my mind, this is really the core of the gospel.   So I will start with prayer.  I will ask God to give me opportunity and words to say to convey the truth of his nature and its importance to me in the interactions that I have.  I want it to shine through, first in my closest relationships and then in the next circle out.   And maybe, over time, with God’s help my worldview of grace will be a calling as well.

Filed under: GRACE by toben