The Grace of Catastrophe & The Catastrophe of Grace

I recently had the privilege of meeting Jan Winebrenner, who graciously gave me a copy of her book The Grace of Catastrophe. In addition to being an extraordinary woman and the author of seven books, Jan serves as the director of the Dallas Christian Writers’ Guild.

 

I love the title of Jan's book. I keep mulling over the paradox of it: the grace of catastrophe, and the catastrophe of grace.  



          





Through eyes of faith, we can see God’s grace at work even in our lives’ most excruciating catastrophes. And, by the same token, God’s grace - both to us and to others -  is a catastrophe, in the sense that its extravagance causes a crisis for us as human beings. In fact, this catastrophe is what causes so many to doubt God.



            





We Christians (and I’m preaching to the choir here!) say that we want grace, but what we really want, deep down, is justice. We want the so-called “good people” of the world to be rewarded and the “bad people” to be punished. When we see God’s grace poured out like streams of cool water to the deserving as well as the seemingly undeserving, many of us act like the miffed older brother of the prodigal son or the laborer who worked the entire day for a denarius and grew disenchanted when he saw another worker receive the same pay for one hour’s work. 

 





The catastrophe of grace is this: For by GRACE you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. -Ephesians 2:8-9













     





But the grace of catastrophe teaches us that God is greater than our circumstances. It demonstrates that through our weakness, He is strong. It affirms that we can consider it pure joy that we are facing trials of various kinds, knowing that this testing produces ENDURANCE and ENDURANCE leads to SPIRITUAL MATURITY (James 1:2-4).  

 

What are YOUR thoughts on grace? Please post a comment here.