Cycle of Grace from Acceptance to Work from Claypotchronicles
Of all the sciences I studied when I was young, I preferred physics. Thinking in the biological sciences has come a long way and I now appreciate the thinking of connectedness and networks biologists are studying. Chemistry? Well, I guess I’m glad they have it.
Physics is very much the empirical study of an ancient concept–energy. Ancient people contemplated the energy that flows throughout nature and from God to humans.
I think visually and associatively. So when I think of God’s Grace, I visualize it in terms of energy.
John Ortberg recently talked about a concept new to me called the Cycle of Grace. It comes from a book by Frank Lake (that I couldn’t find quickly). It dealt with burnout among pastors and missionaries. As a matter of fact, I lifted this image from claypotchronicles.com, where it seems that he starts with work. Ortberg started with acceptance.
You start the cycle knowing that you are loved and accepted by God. You didn’t earn that. God just says he loves you. Sustenance is what I often talk about here. It comprises the Spiritual Disciplines and practices that deepens and enriches your understanding and relationship. Next is significance, or why are you here? What is the work God called you to do? Finally is accomplishment (called work complete in the diagram).
If you start with work and try to gain acceptance, your efforts will be futile. That has often been the case with religious people. Check out Jesus’ debates with the Pharisees. But if you start with God’s Prevenient Grace, the fact that God loved you before you were you, then you have the foundation for great work.
Dallas Willard put it in terms that I can understand with my study of energy. He said that it now becomes God’s Grace flowing through you. I visualize that as a form of energy. We know people who give us energy when we meet them. Unfortunately we know those people who seem to drain the very energy right out of your soul when you meet them.
It is much better to be a channel of God’s Grace to others. A transfer of energy from God to another through you. That is the proper foundation for service.
Faith Venture 
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