Grace - A Concept ...

Tuesday July 17, 2012. We have been moving around for quite a while as a family. When you work in academia, you need until 35 to get the first permanent job offer … and until then, you will get to know many towns and countries, moving from one post doc position to the next. These are great experiences, but also a time of insecurity and risk.

What do we want to reach? …

We have bought a house some years ago. There was a nice opportunity, not far from Frankfurt, for a reasonable price, challenging, but not over expensive. For the kids it is nice to have space and friends can stay in the guest room. That is all very helpful.

But the question is also: what do you want to build up? What do you want to reach? Do we want to put all our resources into the house? Is there any end to the quest for collecting more, for getting into a steady state with the family? We are all drawn into a stream, today, where we need to build up, first we need to finish education. We need to save for the first apartment, for building up a family. Then, we need to get a reasonable car, pay the holidays with the kids, save for their further education … Finally, we need to think about retirement, build up funds, get the mortgage paid, finance additional insurances etc etc. Is there an end to all of this?

I can understand the quest for a nice life, with friends, with a car, with a house, with kids, … I have been trying to get a good part of this as well. But that is not all, and if our life is nothing more than this, it will turn out to be quite empty, over all. We need something else, which fills our life. We need the concept of grace. We need the concept of freedom. We need the the love of the eternal Lord.

God's Grace in Jesus …

God has given us a story. He has given us a sign. He has given us a template, historical events, a person. He has given us Jesus. He is also called the messenger of God. He is called “the word”. He is called the son, the lamb, eternal father, the king of peace. He is called an open source of grace.

We need the concept of grace. We need love which is given to us without our possessions. We need love which is given to us without us being successful. Without our contributions. We need the freedom of being accepted without any deliverables. We need what is called “grace” - being given things without having to do something for it. Being given things which we do not deserve, which we did not earn, which we did not qualify for.

A life built on God's grace in Christ Jesus has a dimension which supersedes the normal life. We step out of the quest for house, garden and more money. We are no longer dependent on success and fame. He opens another world to us, which is built on grace, on his justice, on the love of the eternal father. It is a different concept of life, this grace which is offered to us. He calls it “true life”. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts