Episode 33 - What is Needed?
Episode 33 - What is Needed?
Hello! Welcome to the Seasons of Joy Podcast.
Before I begin, I would like to invite you to the Seasons of Joy Community Facebook Group where I will be going live on Thursday, October 27th at 12 pm MDT. We will continue the conversation on grace. I will also be taking questions and doing some coaching. I would love to have you join me live or you can watch the recording later. All you have to do is join the Season of Joy Community Facebook Group. My hope for this community is to have a place that fosters connection, hope and joy. I would love to have you join me there. The link to join is in the show notes.
This week on the podcast, I am going to be talking about a book I recently read entitled Original Grace written by Adam Miller. He is also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a professor of philosophy at Collin College in McKinney, Texas. I absolutely love this book. I have now read it 4 times. The first two times, I listened to the audiobook but I knew I needed a hardcopy that I could underline and go back and reread passages. I also had the opportunity to attend a meeting where Adam Miller presented on this subject. He is a philosopher so it is a deep but beautifully inspiring read. My understanding of God’s love for me and the role of Jesus Christ has been expanded in a very personal way.
I am only going to be sharing a little bit on this book today because there is so much in it. I may do another podcast on it later.
I want to begin by sharing a story the Adam shares at the very end of his book. It is an analogy taken from a presentation given by Stephen Robinson. on his book, Believing Christ.
“Everything you need to know about grace, Stephen said, can be learned in the following way: hold a baby in your arms. (Perhaps while the family is out. Perhaps in a chair. Perhaps your own son or daughter.) What do you feel? An absolute love. What has the baby done to deserve your love? Nothing. What would you sacrifice for that baby? Everything. This is God. This is grace.”
This analogy is a powerful one. This is grace in its most simplest and purest form.
In Adam Miller’s book, he outlines the logic of original sin versus that of original grace. He offers new perspectives on how grace ,not sin, was original.
As we come to embrace this original grace, we can create a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and develop a greater understanding of His atonement and what it means for each one of us.
The doctrine of original sin is based on the belief that we all deserve to be punished. That suffering is a punishment and that suffering wouldn’t exist at all if someone, like you or I, hadn’t deserved to suffer in the first place. There is an underlying assumption that suffering is deserved because we are sinful and our nature is sinful because of Adam and Eve.
Adam Miller asks this question, “What if we broke entirely with the story told by original sin and argued that suffering can never be deserved?”
We all experience suffering. So, does suffering have a purpose? No. Suffering is part of life. It is part of the human experience. However, Adam Miller states, that “suffering can, by the way of grace, be given a purpose. In addition to being relieved, it can be redeemed. It can teach and strengthen and empower. It can, in God’s hands, be repurposed for growth and progress.”
What if God’s grace is his response to our suffering?
So often, people believe that they have to earn God’s love. That they need to prove that they deserve something more. They deserve to be saved. They deserve to be loved. Or somehow, if they work really hard, they can save themselves.
The problem isn’t that God isn’t willing to offer the grace we need. It is that we are unwilling to receive the grace God is giving. However, there is always a way to begin again. God’s grace is not a backup plan. A “grace-filled partnership with Christ is the original plan, not an unfortunate intervention needed because [we] failed to save [ourselves].” This divine relationship was promised from the very beginning.
I want to read another quote from the book that contrasts sin and grace.
“According to the logic of original sin, the purpose of the law is punishment. The law’s purpose is to judge what is deserved. The law is a divine mechanism for judging who deserves to suffer (or not) and to what degree. The point of the law is accusation.
“The logic of grace, on the other hand, takes the purpose of the law to be love. The law’s purpose is still to judge—but, now, to judge what is needed. The law is a divine mechanism for judging what is needed to relieve suffering and liberate sinners. The point of the law is grace.
“The contrast between these two logics is sharp. Where sin reasons backward about whether someone’s suffering is deserved, grace reasons forward about how best to respond to that suffering. Where sin understands God’s law as a tool of condemnation, grace understand God’s law as a discipline of compassion. Where sin uses the law to obligate suffering, grace uses the law to command succor.
“Sin begins from the original assumption of guilt and concludes that suffering is deserved. Grace begins from the original reality of suffering and concludes that redemption is needed.
“Sin uses God’s law to ask what is deserved.
“Grace uses God’s law to ask what is needed.”
I want to read this again.
“Sin uses God’s law to ask what is deserved.
“Grace uses God’s law to ask what is needed.”
Giving people what they deserve is about punishment. Many of us confuse justice with punishment. If someone does evil they are punished with evil. However, this doesn’t make the world more just. It makes it more unjust. Returning evil for evil doesn’t create more good. It creates more evil.
Adam says it this way, “Justice is the art of determining what good is needed.”
“Justice returns good for good and good for evil.”
“Justice isn’t the work of doing evil to people. Justice is the work of saving people from evil—saving them from both the evil they suffer and the evil they do. It’s the work of making bad people good and good people better.”
Looking at the Savior’s Sermon on Mount, he taught us to love our neighbors and our enemies. He taught us to turn the other cheek and to take care of the poor. The Savior wasn’t teaching about giving people what they deserve or about punishment. He was teaching grace. Good for good and good for evil. This is justice. This is fulfilling the law. The sun rises for the good and the evil. The rain comes for the just and the unjust. (Matthew 5:44-45). “Justice is the art of giving whatever good is needed.”
Justice is grace and grace is justice. It is the work of healing the wounded instead of executing the guilty.
Often, we think of justice as the work of what happens in the courtroom. But what if it is more like what happens in the emergency room?
When someone shows up in the ER, it is the doctor’s Hippocratic oath to do no harm and to give what good is needed. Sometimes what is needed is difficult and painful, like surgeries and stitches, but it is always about what good is needed.
This powerful concept has expanded my view of grace as it applies to my relationship with myself, with God and with others.
If we could think of what was needed instead of what was deserved how would these relationships be affected?
When I am struggling with healthy eating or caring for my body as I would like, what does grace look like here?
It isn’t belittling myself, talking negatively to myself, or shaming myself because I think I deserve it.
It is asking myself, “What good is needed right now?”
Is it reminding myself of the good I have done or is it being lovingly honest with myself about what I can work on?
Is it making time for more sleep or incorporating things that bring me joy?
It is returning good.
When I am struggling with my relationship with God, what does grace look like here?
It isn’t believing that I am suffering because I deserve it or that I need to be perfect in order to access His grace.
It isn’t distancing myself from God because He deserves my distance.
It is asking God, “What good is needed right now?
Is it slowing down and feeling love?
Is it pausing to connect with Him?
Is it spending time in gratitude for the all big and little things in my life, including life itself?
It is returning good.
When I am struggling with my spouse or adult child, what does grace look like here?
It isn’t returning evil for evil.
It isn’t punishing them with the silent treatment or anger because the deserve it.
It is asking myself, “What good is needed right now?”
Is that pausing to really listen to them to understand?
Is it letting them be them without trying to change them?
Is it stepping away and letting tempers subside?
Is it honoring a consequence with love?
It is returning good.
How would your relationships look if you could apply this concept to them? Asking yourself, “what good is needed” will create grace-filled relationships that will connect you to yourself, others, and God. You no longer are looking to give what is deserved but what is needed.
If you are interested in reading this book, I invite you to do so. I have put a link in my show notes.
If you want to learn more about applying this concept into your life, I would love to work with you on it. I offer one on one coaching and we can explore this concept together.
Thank you for listening and have a joyful week!
Click HERE to get your copy of Original Grace by Adam S. Miller.
Click on the link below to learn more about Seasons Coaching and the Seasons of Joy Community Facebook Group.
