Common Grace
6 min read
23 Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
— Joel 2:23
I remember when I first got to GCC. California was in the in the middle of a severe drought, and I asked the congregations to pray for rain (The English ministry was two congregations back then, Remnant and UnderGrace.). I’m not sure if anyone really understood what a serious issue this was, because water was still readily available.
But then I took the Remnant leaders to Yosemite for a retreat, and we saw that Yosemite Falls was barely a trickle when it should have been a torrent. It was so sad, especially since I had witnessed the glory of the falls before.
Water is definitely one of those things that we take for granted here in the US, and even here in California—like, toilet paper. If the way people responded to the shortage of toilet paper during COVID is any indication of how people would respond if we actually felt the pain of a drought … Lord have mercy. No wonder that God allows us to have water in California even during periods of severe drought.
It is by God’s grace alone.
Even though our water supply is taken for granted, water may also be the clearest example of what is called God’s “common grace.” And the clearest expression of God’s common grace comes from the mouth of Jesus Himself -
“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
— Matthew 5:45b
But what is so mind-blowing about what Jesus said is why He said it!
44 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
— Matthew 5:44-45
God’s common grace tells us that all of humanity is in the same boat. And if we withhold or neglect or even just take for granted what is for the “common good” of others, we are basically placing ourselves in danger of undermining what is for the “common good” of all—that is to say, ourselves.
And this principle is also true (maybe even especially so) in the context of church community. If we seek only what “me, myself, and I” want, if we become satisfied and complacent in only what “me, myself, and I” like, if we do not pray for one another, encourage one another, and help one another to grow in understanding, humility, grace, maturity, and love—we are just hurting “me, myself, and I.”
It takes a community in Christ to raise up a disciple of Christ.
God has extended His hand of grace to me. He has given me this community to learn to love and to grow in Him. May I never take that for granted. May we never take that for granted.
Father, Your love is amazing and it knows no bounds. Your grace pours out over us like an abundant waterfall. I pray for our Canvas family. I pray that You would grow us together in understanding and action—in word and deed—to be His body and to be witnesses of Your grace to a world that suffers from a drought of Your word, a drought of the love of Christ. In Jesus’s name. Amen.