Grace and Gratitude

One of the chief objections to the theology of grace is that it doesn't require anything of those who receive grace (I'm looking at you, Alexi). On one level, this is undeniable. If it required effort on our part, then it really wouldn't be grace. Christian theology has always been tempted (and often given in to the temptation) to invent a set of demands through which we must earn salvation. In some traditions, this is involvement in the work and sacraments of the church, in others, salvation is earned through an act of will (accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior) and a certain level of purity in living. Each of these are a mockery of real divine grace, and seek to displace divine generosity with human achievement.

That being said, a true experience of grace provokes a response. And that response is gratitude. Grace is given freely. As we awake to the beauty and truth of God's grace, we are filled with gratitude, and this gratitude is the beginning of spirituality and ethics. Simply put, we live and move in the world out of joyful thanksgiving, not out of a fear of divine retribution or a desire to earn that which can only be given. The life of gratitude simply leads us to approach others with the same sort of grace that has already embraced us.

This makes an enormous difference in how we approach life. We no longer have to struggle to fulfill divine edict or maintain an impossible purity, because we know any purity we may have lies not in ourselves, but in Christ. Life instead becomes an endless series of opportunities in which we are free to love God and neighbor not out of obligation, but out of hope and thanksgiving. Even obedience to God takes on a different form in this case. Obedience is no longer defined negatively (not doing a series of thou shalt nots), but by positively following God's call to service. A spirituality of gratitude is more about what we do and how we do it, than what we do not do.