Day 201: Common Good and Common Grace

 DAY 201

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

pastorrobert@paxpres.org

Week Twenty-nine    Thursday 1 October 2020

Common Good and Common Grace

“The hallmark of free speech and rightful assembly in America relies upon civic order. Civic order relies on a commitment to the common good. Theologically, the common good ties to our commitment to all persons made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and to the common grace generously and indiscriminately bestowed by God upon the righteous and the unrighteous alike (Matthew 5:45). To the extent the common good untethers from common grace – a doctrine based on God’s undeserved love for all people – goodness perverts into partisanship and subjects to societal whim, market value, individual rights, and personal preference.” - From an editorial in the current issue of a Christian magazine.

How do we look as a country to the God of common good and indiscriminate common grace? It is disturbing to watch as millions who claim to know the Bible and the God of the Bible embrace a political ideology that has only one agenda that matters: the protection of their ‘rights.’ Common good untethered from common grace yields no concern for ‘the other’ made in God’s image but not sharing their religious beliefs, resulting in ‘goodness perverted into partisanship and subject to societal whim, market value, individual rights, and personal preference.’

Standing in stark contrast to what we are embroiled in as a nation is the God who created everything and who took on human flesh in the Incarnation in order to give us a markedly different model for how we relate to each other, how we treat each other. When several of his disciples got into an argument seeking to assert their rights and importance, Jesus’ response cut to the quick and convicted their hearts: “…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26-28.

We need a Holy Spirit revival amongst those who know Jesus tethering common grace and common good together as one deep within, that engaging in such scandalous behavior as putting others first rather than the current ‘us first’ focus, our nation might see Jesus in us.

Reflective question: How are ‘common good’ and common grace’ as described above linked together in your perception of others in the turbulence currently affecting our culture? 

Reflective Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:24 – “No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.”

Reflective hymn: “God of Mercy” – Henry Lyte (1973-1847)

God of mercy, God of grace, show the brightness of your face.

Shine upon us, Savior, shine; fill your world with light divine;

All your saving health extend unto earth’s remotest end.