More Grace

Photo Credit: Gary and Bonnie Sharp

(By Theanna Joyce)

Have you ever been called bossy? It’s a word that is often hurled by younger siblings at their older, wiser, vastly more experienced, and often quite pushy older siblings. Being a middle child, used to bossing and being bossed, it’s a word I was quite familiar with growing up.

At twenty-four years of age, I still catch myself telling other people what to do and then remember that I have to step back. Respect boundaries. Release control. Support, don’t dictate.

When it comes to spiritual matters, I can be bossy as well. I think this is something a lot of Christians struggle with, though we don’t really call it bossiness. Instead, it’s a sort of pride masked by piety that says I know what God says, and I know exactly what you should do.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to know what God says. To His disciples, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commands” (John 14:15). Through James, He tells us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17). So, we must know what God says so that we can follow Him as He wants us to follow Him.

Moreover, I don’t think that we should ignore how our brothers and sisters are living. If we do, how could we encourage each other (1 Thessalonians 5:11), or spur each other on to good works (Hebrews 10:24-25), or restore from death the soul of a brother or sister who is wandering from God (James 5:20)?! 

Thus, we must know God’s commands so that we can follow them and so that we can help our brothers and sisters follow them.  

Thankfully, the commands of Scripture are so clear! Love one another. Be kind. Share the gospel. Don’t lie or speak evil against another. Etcetera, etcetera.

However, while the commands are clear, their application to our personal lives is so nuanced.

What does it look like to honor my parents in this choice? Where’s the line between speaking evil against someone and speaking truth about them? Is this a right I get to exercise since I am free in Christ or something I must sacrifice since I am a slave to Christ?

God, give us your wisdom to apply your commands.

I’ve been reading through James recently, and it is full of commands and instructions. James tells us to rejoice in suffering, ask for wisdom, be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. He informs us that we must be those who do the Word, not just those who listen to it.

He reminds us to love our neighbor as ourselves, not showing preference to someone based on their income (or anything else!). James tells us to control our tongues since they are like small fires that can destroy a whole forest. He commands us to submit ourselves before God and warns us not to speak evil against our brothers or sisters since God is judge. He asks us to be patient, like the farmer who waits for the rain, and to be steadfast like Job.

Reading through this book both encouraged and dismayed me. It encouraged me because I glimpsed a beautiful vision of God’s desire for His people. 

Yet it also dismayed me because when I look around, I see so many people struggling.

I see people whose faith is more of a checklist than abiding in God. I know people who have turned away from God in their suffering, rather than to Him. I hear people speaking evil against other members of Christ’s body. I see people who think they are serving God but are holding to the wrong gospel. I see people who aren’t doing what God commands them to, but rather are falling to Satan’s schemes.

Yet I cannot judge because when I look within, I see my own wrongdoings. I see my past sins and the ways, even now, I fall short of who I long to be.

What do you see when you look around? When you look within?

On our own, there is no hope — yet the gospel, by which we were saved and by which we live, points us down the path of grace. In James 4:6, we are reminded of God’s grace; James writes, “But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”

Here is the answer: grace.

We need this grace more than we need food for our bodies or air in our lungs. This is not a cheap answer. I’m not brushing sin under the rug of grace. James tells us to “mourn and weep” over our sin, and to “humble ourselves before the Lord” (4:10). Humility eliminates any thought within us that sees obedience as a means to merit God's grace.

In our humility, we meet His grace — for Yahweh, our God, He is gracious.

So, when we’re tempted to tell someone else what to do and how to do it, let us humble ourselves. When we look around at the rest of the body of Christ, let us first look inward and humble ourselves, for He gives more grace.