For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise
may rest on grace.” Reflect on these words. This simple
sentence offers a critical truth. We can do nothing to earn God’s
grace. We can do nothing to deserve God’s grace. We can do
nothing to force God’s grace. The grace of God—unconditional
love, acceptance and forgiveness—is a gift in the purest sense of
the word. God offers grace to all; our only response is acceptance
or rejection.

Human beings spend an inordinate amount of time in worry
and anxiety. Are we good enough? Are we worthy? Are we too
broken and corrupted? What all is wrong with us? How in the
world can a holy God want to have anything to do with us?
Theologians have built entire theological frameworks on the
notion of our fallen, dirty, and shameful human nature. Some
Christian communities spend much more time deciding who
doesn’t belong and who isn’t acceptable rather than who needs
the love, grace, and mercy of God.

Most of us are baptized into the faith as babies, with representatives
accepting the faith on our behalf. Some of us choose
this faith for ourselves. But through baptism, we are made
acceptable to God and to one another in the fellowship. We
acknowledge the free gift of God’s grace and promise to live it
before one another.

This understanding lies at the heart of incarnational theology:
We are made one with Christ, one with each other, and
one in service to all the world. We become the body of Christ
together. The question is never “who belongs and who doesn’t,”
but “where does each one fit in?” As we become one in heart,
mind, and spirit, God makes us who God needs us to be.