Eyes to See
Endorsements:
Introduction
Which would you pick?
If you could travel back to biblical times to witness God in action, what would you most want to see? Imagine the possibilities. You shield yourself from the spray as Pharaoh’s chariots are consumed by raging waters. Trumpets blast as the seemingly impenetrable walls of Jericho fall with a deafening thud shaking the ground beneath you. Your hair singed as fire comes down from heaven consuming the prophet Elijah’s sacrifice as hundreds of Baal’s prophets are silenced. Or, perhaps you’d opt for watching Jesus heal the leper, raise Lazarus, or feed the five thousand?
How many would choose watching early Christians collect food for the poor, help build sanitation systems for the city of Antioch, or provide assistance to Roman citizens during a plague in 165 A.D.?
The goal of Giving God Credit is to expand our view of what counts as an act of God, realizing that the ingenuity of designing a sanitation system and parting the sea are both divine. In no way am I discounting the dramatic acts of God that are the topic of movies, or sermons. Nor am I suggesting that God doesn’t act in miraculous ways today—reports from missionaries abroad record miracles too many to ignore, and many of us have answers to prayer that defy natural explanations. Rather, I’m attempting to bring attention to an oft-forgotten avenue of divine action, called common grace, where God indiscriminately provides blessings to a rebellious world. If miraculous acts are God’s highlight reel, then common grace is the ever present, but oft ignored elevator music that plays in the background of our lives 24/7.
Our desire for the dramatic is understandable and perhaps stoked by some of our favorite worship songs. In rousing song, Rattle, we hear: “My God is able to save and deliver and heal and restore anything that He wants to.”[1] In another song, Famous For, a person longs to experience the miracles God is famous for such as lion’s mouth’s being closed, standing in fire, and walking through the waters. The lyrics reference powerful moments such as Daniel being thrown in a den of lions, but not being eaten (Dan. 6); Shadrach, Meshack, and Abenego surviving the king’s furnace (Daniel 3), and the parting of the Red Sea (Ex. 24).
Putting these two songs together, we learn God is able to do anything—heal, deliver, restore—he wants to and he’s done it in the past as evidenced by lions’ mouths being closed. Serving as an interim teaching pastor at a large church in Orange County, CA, I had many people come up after a stirring sermon or worship set and ask in hushed tones, “Why doesn’t God answer my prayers? We are desperate and he doesn’t seem to be doing anything!” There is no doubt that the dramatic stories and miracles in the Bible, sermons, and worship songs are praise worthy and faith building, but shouldn’t God be equally famous for less dramatic acts that improve our lives? As we shall soon see, God is praiseworthy for medical discoveries, technological advancement, and community building via common grace. If we start to acknowledge God’s common grace we’ll soon see he longs to help with your problems and is active in dramatic answers to prayer and in the aspirin we take for a blistering headache and the church benevolence fund that helps in hard times.
Common Grace Defined
We can define common grace as the undeserved blessings God pours out on the entire human race without discrimination or bias between one person or another. The Psalmist proclaims to a world in rebellion that the “Lord is good to all” and he has “compassion on all he has made” (Ps. 145:9). What is the good we experience? Jesus offers one example when he states that God makes “his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Mt. 5:45). Paul reiterates this point when he informs unbelievers at Lystra that God is the one who sends “rains from heaven and fruitful seasons” (Acts 14:17). After the Fall, the earth didn’t just produce thorns or thistles, but equally plush vineyards, crops, oceans teeming with a myriad of fish, and minerals buried in the ground. The central feature of this type of grace is that all people experience it. Rebels and saints alike can count on regular seasons to plant and harvest crops, learn to build fires for cold nights, create language to communicate with others, discover medicines to fight off disease, formulate governments to help communities flourish, navigate long journeys by consulting the stars, learn the truths of mathematics for abstract thinking, and create art to imagine beauty and draw us up to higher ideals.
Theologian Wayne Grudem make an interesting point when he asserts that “we should recognize that unbelievers often receive more common grace than believers—they may be more skillful, harder working, more intelligent, more creative, or have more of the material benefits of this life to enjoy.”[2] A key part of having engaging conversations about God with those outside the Christian community is showing how they exhibit the traits of common grace described in this book. Acknowledging the good and virtuous actions of our neighbors will allow a conversation to start positively and build from there. Many of the illustrations you’ll read focus on how non-Christians have used God’s gifts to better our collective lives.
Common Grace and Suffering
The doctrine of common grace is particularly relevant when we and those we care about face hardship. When we encounter racism or sexism, a pandemic, or personal tragedy we desire for God to show himself. During these times, Christian and non-Christians alike ironically utter the same refrain: Where is God? Comedian and film director, Woody Allen, once quipped that if God exists he’s certainly an underachiever. Sting, former front man for the rock group, Police, laments in a haunting song that if Jesus is alive, “then how come he never lives here?”[3] If God exists, asks a skeptical friend, then where in the world is he? Why doesn’t he show himself? That is the question we’ll be answering in this book—what constitutes God acting in a world of pain and turmoil? If we have a limited idea of what divine action looks like—dramatic answers to prayer, healings with no medical explanation, financial needs being met unexpectedly by total strangers—then we have lessened the power of common grace exhibited by antibiotics, financial planners, and thoughtful friends.
The story of Matt Hughes offers an example of how common grace works. Fans of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) know the key role Hughes played in the success of mixed martial arts. Today, the UFC is appraised as a 5-billion-dollar organization and oversees one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, Matt almost didn’t see the meteoric rise of his sport. On June 18, 2017 his truck was hit by a northbound train resulting in severe brain and physical injuries. Today, Matt has made a remarkable recovery due a multitude of factors. He explains, “I am beyond grateful for every physician, doctor, nurse, therapist, coach, first responder, family member, friend, etc. who worked with me over the past 3 years. I thank God for guiding their hands and their decisions.”[4] Could God have miraculously saved Matt from the train wreck? After the accident, could God have instantaneously healed him? Yes, to both. God can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20). But, any Christian will tell you that dramatic prayers often don’t get answered as we hoped. Is it any less an act of God that Matt’s recovery came through God guiding the hands of doctors, physical therapists, and family members? The goal of Giving God Credit is to give you illustrations that widen what it means for God to address our pain.
The premise of Giving God Credit is founded on two claims. First, God is aware of not only what is currently happening, but will happen. God fully knew what would happen to Matt on June 18, 2017. However, God’s knowing that an event will occur does not cause it to happen. Rather, his knowledge is all inclusive—past, present, and future. For example, did God know Adam and Eve would eventually rebel by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Yes. But, he’s not responsible for their rebellion; he simply knew what the first humans would freely do in the garden. James affirms this when he reminds us that when we are tempted to sin, we should not blame God because he “cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone” (1:13). There are two ways I can know what’s in a particular book. First, I know what’s in each chapter because I’m the author and I wrote it. I control the actions of each character and the twists and turns of the plot. Second, I know what happens in each chapter because I’ve read the entire book cover-to-cover. I don’t control the characters, but am aware of their actions. My argument is that God is like the latter. He knows the future because he is the Alpha and Omega; the beginning and the end (Rev. 1:18).
The second claim is that via fore-knowledge, God knows what challenges humans will face in a rebellious world—disease, famine, war, pandemics, global warming, and AIDS to name a few. Subsequently, he strategically gives us gifts—scientific discoveries, agriculture, antibiotics, ethics—that help us not only survive, but thrive. These gifts are given in partnership with us and constitute common grace.
Unique Features of the Book
Giving God Credit is laid out in a format that makes it helpful to those wanting to communicate the Christian perspective to others.
- Using pop culture as a conversation starter. My students tell me the greatest hindrance to talking to their friends about God is not knowing how to start the conversation. “God just never seems to come up,” is a constant refrain. I ask them if they talk about the newest binge-worthy Netflix series, or current event like COVID-19? Christian communicators need to be adept at finding the spiritual truths embedded in The Tiger King or issues dominating the headlines. The great traveling preacher, John Wesley, maintained that a Christian should be able to relate every story on the front page of a newspaper to the gospel. This book offers examples of how to start conversations revolving around daily topics, or movies in your Hulu que.
- Common objections. Authentic conversations involve a give-and-take process where our skeptical friends get to ask questions and even offer objections. These objections should be taken seriously. “To answer before listening,” suggest the ancient writers that comprise the book of Proverbs, “that is folly and shame” (18:13). Each chapter includes legitimate objections and possible responses.
- Going deeper. Giving God Credit is written for readers who have little background in Christian apologetics. For those who want more, Digging Deeper sections are found throughout chapters that offer a richer examination of topics. These sections may not be appropriate to bring into a conversation, but offer valuable context.
- Diverse illustrations. In addition to the author’s original illustrations, you’ll encounter thought-provoking illustrations from noted thinkers such as C. S. Lewis, Tim Keller, Augustine, Maria Lugones, Camus, Aristotle, Betty Friedan, Bruce Lee, and others.
Wishing it Were True
For Christians, God is the great comforter who views us with tender loving-kindness. “As a father has compassion on his children,” states the psalmist, “so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him” (103:13). However, not everyone sees God in that way. Noted atheist, Sam Harris, boldly states that “Everyone who has eyes to see can see that if the God of Abraham exists, He is an utter psychopath.”[5] While your co-workers may not be that brazenly disparaging of God, they may view him very differently than you. What’s to be done? Blaise Pascal, a radical follower of Jesus during the 1600s wrote copious notes to himself exploring how to present the Christian perspective to his non-Christian friends. One note reads, “Next, make it [Christianity] attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is.”[6] Wouldn’t it be comforting to your friends to know in a world of disease, hardship, and environmental challenges that God from the very beginning has been providing us with medical discoveries, technological breakthroughs, phycological insights, and conceptions of vitreous love? We are not left alone to face life’s challenges. Could it, just possibly, be true? In her haunting poem, Nothing, Krysten Hill writes that when life is too much “I imagine a god up there to fill what seems unimaginable.” Our goal as Christian communicators is help people like Hill imagine the benevolent God of the Scriptures who isn’t “up there” but rather here working among us. In the pages to follow, we present a compassionate God who partners with us in a world of turmoil. A view of divine love expressed through common grace that our friends will, hopefully, long to be true.
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[1] https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=lyrics+to+Rattle
[2] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), 663.
[3] https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/sting/all-this-time
[4] https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2020/06/ufc-matt-hughes-reflects-train-collision-three-year-anniversary
[5] Sam Harris, Letter to a Christian Nation (New York: Vintage Books, 2008), p. 114.
[6] Blaise Pascal, p. 34.