The New Math of Grace

At next Sunday's discussion group we will move on to "The New Math of Grace," Chapter 5 in Phillip Yancey's "What's So Amazing About Grace"

As a preview for our discussion, Yancey says:

"I grew up with the image of a mathematical God who weighed my good and bad deeds on a set of scales and always found me wanting. Somehow I missed the God of the Gospels, a God of mercy and generosity who keeps finding ways to shatter the relentless laws of ungrace. God tears up the mathematical tables and introduces the new math of grace, the most surprising, twisting, unexpected-ending word in the English language."

"Reflect: From the nursery school onward we are taught how to succeed in the world of ungrace. Work hard for what you earn. No pain, no gain. There is no such thing as a free lunch. I know these rules well because I live by them. I work for what I earn. I want fairness. I want people to get what they deserve -- nothing more, nothing less."

"Why would God choose Jacob the conniver over dutiful Esau? Why confer supernatural powers on a delinquent named Samson? Why groom a runty shepherd boy, David, to be Israel's king? And why bestow a sublime gift of wisdom on Solomon, the fruit of that king's adulterous liaison?"

"By instinct I feel that I must do something in order to be accepted. Grace sounds a startling note of contradiction, of liberation."

Do you find Yancey's thought's on grace as disconcerting as I do?
I'd like to think of myself as a "good person", but have I been so molded since birth by the "relentless laws of ungrace" that I find the concept of grace - that nothing I can do will make God love me more and nothing I can do will make God love me less - to be unsettling.
After all, what is the point of being a good person and doing good things if not to earn one's way into heaven?

Please join us this Sunday at ASLC at 9:15ish for these discussions.