Acquired Passivity

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Ephesians 2 (click the link)


KEY VERSES:
It is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10, NIV)


REFLECTIONS:
Forgive me, but this devotional may seem a little different than others. In fact, you'll probably find it to be sort of like a rambling journal entry. But… this is where my mind went concerning the second chapter of Ephesians.

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The transition is abrupt—"You were dead" (2:1) but now you are "alive with Christ" (2:5). God raised Jesus from the dead (1:20); he also raised us from the dead: "raised us up with Christ" (2:6). Resurrection defines Jesus' life; resurrection defines our lives. We WERE sin-dead; we ARE resurrection-alive. Paul's language is black and white—death and life. We no longer live in death country, we live in resurrection country.

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A good part of growing up in the land of resurrection—growing up in Christ—involves practicing a kind of "acquired passivity" (to use Eugene Peterson's phrase). The word "passivity" carries a bad odor in the American language: insipid, spineless, no-good, lazy, lacking gumption, couch potato, good-for-nothing, shiftless, hangdog. We are brought up to admire and imitate get-up-and-go, ambition, drive, take-no-prisoners strategies.

Energy and ambition, single-minded purpose, an undistracted and unswerving race for the finish, and eye-on-the-ball concentration go a long way in making money, acquiring academic degrees, winning wars, climbing Mount Everest, and hitting home runs. This is indisputable. But such goals, all of them much lauded by our culture, have very little to do in themselves with living a mature life, living "to the praise of his glory."

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We have advanced in almost every outward way in our culture, but we haven't matured. We've chosen technology and success over the soul. Our Hebrew ancestors were energetically countercultural on this matter. They were fiercely jealous of the integrity of their souls and vigilantly guarded their image-of-God identity. They did not admire the leaders or ways of life that dominated wealthy and powerful civilizations.

Our Christian ancestors were also countercultural on this matter. They worshiped a crucified God. The cross was "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles" (1 Corinthians 1:23), a universal symbol of rejection, humiliation, and failure.

Today's popular practice among Christians, however, is to come up with a cross-fertilization of American ambition and Christian theology. But in my mind, any attempt to blend with culture on this matter is an antichrist.

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An acquired passivity is essential to grace. "Grace" is everywhere in the New Testament gospel. There are no other options. It's grace or nothing. Grace is received or it is nothing. Like water to a swimmer, grace isn't an action we do; it's what we participate in. Faith is diving into this sea of grace. The problem is that we like our feet firmly planted on the ground, with us firmly in control. The hardest thing for us, is the reorientation from living anxiously by our wits and muscle to living effortlessly in the world of God's active presence.

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But grace does not displace work. Work is good and we continue to do it—unemployment or underemployment aren't spiritual virtues. God works. From creation on, God has been at work and is right now at work. He invites us to join him in his work, right here in his workplace.

God's work comes to us as grace, as sheer gift. Creation: gift. Salvation: gift. It's all free. No necessity. No demand. God's work and our work within his work all point to grace.

Grace is unseen. But it becomes seen when we work, taking what has been given to us and shaping that grace into something that can be seen. Likewise, God is invisible. But God's glory becomes seen when Jesus works. Our participation in that work also gives visible form to God's glory. The good works God has created us for are no less tangible and physical than we are.

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There are two distortions at work.

The secularist romanticizes work, turning it into a method for gaining significance (workaholics). As we watch the payouts roll in, we gain job satisfaction. We become godlike without God. We skip our work-restraining Sabbaths in an act of self-worship, self-idolatry.

The pietist spiritualizes his work into religious activity—prayer, worship, witness—in a way that diminishes everyday work as secondary at best. But Jesus' metaphors for the kingdom of God and his own work itself or located solidly in secular work settings.

Almost any work setting can be a container for grace and the setting for our practice of resurrection.


WHO AM I?
I am Tres Sansom, and I am so grateful for the freedom we enjoy as Americans. However, I am so much more grateful for the freedom we enjoy as followers of Christ. This is a freedom that will last for all eternity, regardless of what may come our way.