Grace

28“Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Cost of Discipleship

Grace is one of the most powerful gifts we receive every day. It is also one of the things we struggle with the most. Dietrich Bonhoeffer understood the connection between grace, love, and discipleship. He also was acutely aware of Christians capacity to try and control who receives grace. When we control we judge and when we judge we become blind to our own evil actions as well as to those who receive the same grace we do. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians that “by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). We celebrate the gift of grace when we love those around us, seek justice, and embrace those whom we meet with a heart of love. Christianity does not provide us a vehicle to do anything contrary to loving and we have to fight the urge to twist the very simple grace filled Gospel message of love.