Physician Richard Selzer in his book Mortal Lessons tells the story of a young woman in her 20s who developed a life-threatening tumor in her mouth and face.  Several operations were performed in a heroic and successful effort to save her life.  Yet one outcome was that the nerves of her face were damaged, leaving one side of her mouth in a permanent droop.  As he delivered the news that she would be this way forever he stood there as she silently took this in, tears in her eyes.  Her husband, at her side, took her hand in his and said, “It’s kinda cute.  I like it.”  He then bent over, twisted his mouth into a match of hers, and kissed her softly.  The deformity was real and would last forever but it had no impact on the young man’s love for his wife.

This touching story gives an important picture about grace.  God’s love for us is just like that.  It is based entirely on God, and not on our worthiness.  We Christians are big fans of grace in a “back there” sense.  Grace was what saved us through Christ and we are grateful.  But grace now?  In an ongoing, everyday sense?  No, now we are doing our best to live “the victorious Christian life.”  Go to any Christian book site and do a search and you will find that there is abundant amount of resources telling us how you can claim the strength to do it.

But most of us, if we are honest, live in an attempt to hide the things we don’t want others to see.  And somehow we have convinced ourselves that a “good Christian” would not feel the things we are feeling.  Go around any church during greeting time and you will see the smiles, the signs of abundant joy.  Nobody seems to struggle with depression, fears, poor self esteem, excessive worry, anger, sin addictions, troubled marriages, or a host of other problems.  It must be just us, so we hide.

And when we do, we block the channel of grace into our lives.  How can I show grace to others unless I freely admit I rely in faith, in my weaknesses, for the daily loving kiss of God on my deformities?  Somehow we have come to believe that Christian living means we are to be victorious over struggles with sin and I am not sure how we managed to do that.  Here is Paul in II Corinthians:  “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not us.”  Read this passage and the following verses and see there is no promise of “victory” here.  Just a promise of God’s ever-present love.

How about grace?  Does grace give us the “victory” to dispel all these issues?  Here is Paul again in II Corinthians:  “But He said to me ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’.”  It seems clear that our weaknesses are going to stay with us doesn’t it?  Paul goes on to say “when I am weak, then I am strong.”  Not when I am healed, or cured, or victorious, but weak.  Our faith is not seen in “claiming victory.”  It is seen in a discontent in what I am and a confidence that all that God has given me in Jesus is enough.  It is not a belief that I have arrived but an assurance that my own weaknesses are included in the list of things that will not separate me from the love of Christ.

Do you want to be an ambassador of grace to those around you?  It doesn’t start with victory over our weakness, it starts with faith in Christ even as we are weak.  It starts by accepting the kiss of God’s grace on our deformity.

Do we have the courage to admit our struggles and the love to allow others to do so?  How can we be a body that supports one another in our struggles?