Grace and Miserable Mediocrity

I picked up a book yesterday that’s been on my shelf for some time now. I read it years ago and filed it away under “books I’ve read and liked“. But recently I have needed to pull it out again and glean some things from the author’s wisdom. The book is called Grace Walk by Steve McVey.

So, I thought I might go through the book with you, if that’s okay. The Lord has taught me and my dear husband SO much about grace over the past 2 years … so much so that our little one’s name is Grace.

The first chapter is called Miserable Mediocrity. Who can’t relate to that feeling? He begins the book and this chapter by retelling the night that God began to teach him about grace. He had been the pastor in his current church for only a year and it seemed to all be falling apart. Little did he know that the Lord was stripping away everything but Himself in Steve’s life. He recounts how he felt like a failure as a pastor, and as a Christian.

I had prayed for God to make me stronger, but He had a different plan. He was making me weaker…It didn’t make sense. Had God brought me to this church only to set me up for failure? Couldn’t He see that I was doing everything I knew how for Him? … I had done my best. God, what more do you want from me?

He then goes on to talk about how he came to Atlanta from a small church in Alabama and how he pulled out all his sermons and programs and “went to work for God”. They didn’t work, so he tried a second round of church growth programs, Sunday School pep rallies, planning meetings and the like. But nothing happened. And he was at the end of his rope.

American culture demands that we be successful. People often measure our significance by what we have accomplished…That fact puts unbelievable pressure on us to succeed. This demand for success doesn’t stop outside the doors of the church. Many Christians are struggling to make their lives count for Christ, only to discover that the Christian life isn’t working out like it’s supposed to. They are sincere about their commitment to Christ and have given it their best effort. Yet, they are frustrated because they can’t live up to what they think a Christian ought to be.

Sound familiar to you? It does to me. I lived there once and it’s not easy, to say the least. Actually, it’s downright hard! Too hard. The author, Steve McVey continues on and talks about “If at first you don’t succeed… “, and our tendency in the natural world to keep trying until we’ve accomplished our goal(s). But God’s ways aren’t our ways …

No Christian has a problem with the previous paragraph [the thought above re: trying harder] as it relates to salvation…Salvation is a gift to be received, not a reward to be earned…As Paul said about salvation, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Romans 11:6)…But many Christians who understand that trying is detrimental to becoming a Christian somehow think that it is essential to living in victory after salvation.

Okay, let me camp here for a moment. This is a real problem that I am seeing more and more, and in places and with people I never expected. In God’s eyes work does not equal worth, so why do we seem to so easily equate the two? Why do we seem to think that striving is essential to the Christian life?

He continues on to talk about that roller coaster we can easily become trapped on if we’re not careful. You know the one … motivation – declination – condemnation – rededication – motivation – declination – condemnation – rededication … it’s a miserable ride to be on. It can make you nauseous!

The law of God is good because it accomplishes an important function. But many Christians have misunderstood the purpose of the law…Through the law God
revealed that righteousness cannot come from external regulations. Every person understands this at the time of salvation, but many seem to believe that the rules change after they are saved. Some who are quick to point out that keeping religious rules won’t cause anybody to become a Christian believe that keeping certain rules will help them grow in the Christian life. These folks spend great amounts of time trying to improve their spiritual performance.

Okay, now tell me if you can relate to this:

For many years I thought that God accepted me more when I served Him as I thought He wanted me to do. I knew that He always loved me, but felt that He probably didn’t really like me at times… I would do as much as possible to gain His approval.

I’ll raise my hand. It’s really only been in recent times that I have realized that God loves me no matter what. And that He is faithful and that His love is from everlasting to everlasting. God isn’t like me, He isn’t like men, and my view of Him cannot be man-centered – it must be centered upon the very Truth of who He is. Yet for so long I viewed Him as I viewed myself, or others, or how I thought others viewed me. How self-centered and man-centered have we become that we think – and teach – that we must work for God, for victory, for peace, for love.

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people lament a lack of fulfillment in their Christian life and then conclude that the answer was to get back in church, witness more, start tithing, or pray more. Some of the most miserable people in the world are drowning in a sea of religious activity. The sad thing is that they are absolutely sincere.

The criterion for measuring success in the world is production. The person who produces impressive results in business is considered successful. Successful people have learned how to accomplish the desired results. But here is where we get into trouble in the Christian life. Christianity isn’t built around performance, but it is centered on the person of Jesus Christ.

AMEN. Again, AMEN. Unfortunately, not many teach that, or so it seems. Why is that? I have heard pastor’s say, “Don’t let your people read ‘Grace Walk’ or they won’t do anything – you won’t have anyone to do the stuff that needs to be done!”. First, that’s really not true as you’ll see as I go through this book. Second, is that (people not working) such a bad thing? Perhaps we have some golden calves among us that we need to destroy. Perhaps we have some ideas about ministry that we need to simply let die.

McVey concludes this first chapter with this:

There is a way to enjoy a successful Christian life every day! I don’t blame you if you believe it yet. Just don’t close your mind to the possibility that there might be more to the Christian life that you are experiencing right now… God’s work in my life had brought me to the place where I lay on the floor wondering whether or not I would continue in the ministry… God, if this is all that ministry will ever be, I want out. I
just want to quit. I think God must have smiled, because that’s exactly what He had been waiting to hear.

All quotations are from Grace Walk by Steve McVey