Cultivate a Fruitful Life by Gracing Forward

During my college years, I gathered with some friends every Saturday morning at a tea house to enjoy our morning tea and talk. One day, a friend showed up with bandages over his head, arms, and legs. He had a nearly fatal motorcycle accident. He said he wished he had died that very moment because he was sure he would have gone straight to heaven since he had been well-behaved in those days.

He had been attending church regularly, volunteering, and giving to charity. He was sure God would welcome him, saying, “Well done, my son. Welcome to heaven!” My friend was disappointed that he did not die because now he had to keep behaving as if good behavior was challenging for him.

I wasn’t sure if he was joking because we all know that our admission to heaven depends not on our deeds but God’s grace. Thank God! However, my friend’s concern is not baseless because Jesus repeatedly says he wants to see us awake and working when he returns. The Lord said,

“Blessed is that servant whom his master will find at work when he arrives.” (Mt 24:46).

If salvation does not depend on our work but on God’s grace alone, why would he expect to see us working? Shouldn’t we all goof to heaven? Does it mean grace is not free? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that grace is free but not cheap. He said,

“The word of cheap grace has been the ruin of more Christians than any commandment of works.” ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

How do we understand grace is free but not cheap? Grace requires gratitude to complete, but how do you thank God, who doesn’t need anything from us? I’ve learned that you thank God by gracing forward.

I have discovered that Grace is like electricity with inflow and outflow to complete a circuit. A lightbulb can not lit up by only the inflow of the electric current. It needs two wires—an inflow and an outflow to complete the energy circuit. We are just like lightbulbs. Grace makes us shine when we grace it forward. Jesus said,

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.” (Mat 5:8).

That means the outflow makes the inflow possible. Jesus used several parables to teach this profound mystery, such as The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. In that parable, a man owed the king a massive amount of money, equivalent to more than a billion dollars of today’s money, which he could not repay in his lifetime, but the king forgave him out of mercy because he bagged him for more time.

However, on his way home, he met a man who owed him a small amount of money. He sent him to prison for not paying back immediately. The king heard about his mercilessness and revoked his grace.

This story reveals that grace is like electricity; the input doesn’t work without an output. If you receive grace and don’t grace it forward, the grace you receive returns to where it came from. Grace is free but not cheap because it requires you to pay it forward to complete the circuit.

It does not mean grace has strings attached, but it’s just how it flows. On the other hand, Jesus said that the servant who is found goofing would be severely punished.

“He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mt 24:51).

It sounds scary. I think that’s why my friend was afraid of dying when goofing. He doesn’t want to join the hypocrites. None of us do. The word “hypocrites” comes from the Greek word with a similar pronunciation: ῠ̔ποκρῐτής (hupokritḗs), meaning “stage actor” or “pretender.”

Hypocrites are like weeds that pretend to be like wheat. They look identical until harvest time. When harvest time comes, they stand tall and light because they don’t carry the weight of the grains. They are just pretenders or hypocrites. They don’t grace it forward. They cheapen grace. Jesus said,

“At harvest time, I will tell the reapers, ‘Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Mt 13:30).

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent means coming. It’s a season to think about the coming of Christ, particularly the second coming, which will be the harvest time. He will separate the weeds from the wheat, the hypocrites from the real Christians who grace it forward to complete the circuit of power.

When you grace it forward, your life becomes fruitful. So, today, we will explore how to maintain a fruitful state based on this week’s scripture lesson so that we will not appear as weeds or hypocrites when the Lord comes. Let’s begin!