Monday, 09 June 2008

• Saying Grace

  Do we actually know what we're saying when we say Grace?
  
  Even more, do we actually believe what we're saying when we say Grace?   Or do we just close our eyes, fold our hands, and rattle off a bunch of dogmatic nonsense; of which we don't actually even think about or fully realize what we're saying?
  
  I had a conversation recently with a friend, and they were shocked when I told them I didn't always say Grace before eating.  In general, most Christians are shocked when they discover that I don't always say Grace before eating; and if it wasn't for their need to keep the happy-smiley Christian face on, I think they'd cast me into the pit of Hell themselves for such a trespass.  Until I ask them several questions in return and ask them to ponder them.
  
  
  

  Do you say Grace?
  
  When do you say Grace?
  
  Do you say Grace before you eat a candy bar?  How about a dinner mint?
  
  Do you not say Grace before you eat a dinner mint because you said Grace at the beginning of the meal?
  
  Then why doesn't the Grace you said for breakfast apply to dinner?
  
  Can you say Grace at the beginning of the day and have it last all day?
  
  Do you say Grace when you drink water?
  
  Why don't you say Grace when you drink water?  Are you not thankful for water?
  
  
  
  

  Usually by this point, people either become hostile or convicted -- in which case, being a six-foot tall, two hundred pound cagefighter type usually helps; because really, even if this guy is wearing a black priest suit with that little white thing on his neck and carrying a bible, one can never be -too- sure that he's not going to deliver some wrath upon thy face in response to hostility.  We are, after all, all susceptible to sin at any moment, you know.
  
  Here's my point:  We say Grace to thank God.
  
  Growing up with Christian backgrounds, we're taught to say Grace before meals as a ritual  -- as a reminder to thank God; because otherwise, we would probably never thank God, and therefore saying some words before we eat is better than saying nothing at all.  Right?
  
  Wrong!  Be Hot or Cold, not lukewarm.  Jesus spits you out like the Church of Laodicea.  Ptoo.  Right there in Revelation 3:16.  Say it and mean it, or don't bother.   Our Lord doesn't like empty words.
  
  
  
  
  

  If we get Baptized or partake in Communion without the full devotion of our hearts, the full knowledge of our minds, the full obedience of our bodies, and the full conviction of our souls, these rituals we perform are meaningless and empty. 
  
  Saying Grace is also a ritual, and the same applies.
  

  
  
  
  
  Now here's the thing -- if we are children or are leading children, or if we are new Christians and learning how to say Grace and how to be thankful, by all means, just say the words and let the Spirit come into us and teach us.  But if we are longtime, mature Christians, sitting at a table and mouthing off some dogmatic nonsense in the guise of being thankful to God while not TRULY being thankful for what He provides for us is nothing short of insulting and blasphemous, seriously.
  
  
  

  Now consider this:
  
  Would God rather a person have a thankful heart all the time and not say Grace?  Or would God rather a person not be thankful, but say that he is?

  
  
  The answer is obvious, I think.  And in case it's not, here's Matthew 21:28-31.
  
  
  

  "But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' The son answered, 'No, I won't go,' but later he changed his mind and went anyway. Then the father told the other son, 'You go,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, I will.' But he didn't go. Which of the two was obeying his father?"
  
  

  
  Have a thankful heart, ALL THE TIME. 
  
  Not just when sitting down to a meal.  God may not have made my meal with His own hands and delivered it to me like Manna appearing at dawn, but He surely blessed me with the means to buy the ingredients to make it, as well as -- here's the key:  AS WELL AS THE SKILL.
  
  Nothing we have and nothing we do, none of our skills are of our own; but are gifts from God.  EVERYTHING.  God surely doesn't expect us to bow our heads and fold our hands before we brush our teeth, even if the toothbrush, toothpaste, and even the health of our teeth are blessings; or for that matter, before doing everything we do during the day -- BUT what God does expect of us, is to have a thankful heart. 
  
  Be thankful, for without God, we are nothing.
  
  
  
  

  And if we do say Grace, because it's a ritual we want to perform, by all means say Grace -- but do so with full understanding and knowledge of what we are doing, with the whole of our hearts, with the obedience of our bodies, and with the conviction of our souls.  Don't just blurt out some holy sounding words.

  
  
  
  If we do, we are no better than the hypocrites in Jerusalem standing on the street corner praying loudly with their arms outstretched for people to hear us and think we are holy.  Matt 6:7 (HCSB) "When you pray, don't babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they'll be heard for their many words."
  
  Be thankful, all the time.  For without a truly thankful heart, the words we speak when we say Grace are empty and meaningless.  Instead of saying Grace just before each meal, say Grace all the time.
  
  For it truly is by His Grace alone that we live.
  
  
  
  
  
  

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