Grace on the Curve

When I was teaching in college, one of the running questions in class at any test time was, “Will you be grading on a curve?” Students will do anything to excuse their lack of preparation and this question, I found, was the prime indicator they spent the night before doing something other than studying.

Does life grade you on a curve? Obviously, the answer to this question is: only by prolonged overeating.

Everything we do has an affect to something. We can’t modify the impact no matter how much we would like to. Life tests us. What you see is what you get. The apostle Paul saw this and penned this epic statement, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Fundamentalist thinkers enjoy beating hell into people with this verse. Let’s face it, no one – you, me, or any of our friends and leaders – can live up to the expectation of being god-like. We are hopelessly lost, miserable souls squandering our measly lives as an act of groveling worship to an omnipotent being who is out to swat us into eternal conscious torment by the flames of our disgrace.

(You have no idea how difficult it was for me to write that paragraph!)

There are those around who would like you to believe that life is a game, a contest, winner take all. The trouble with this is at the end of your winning life, as you lie on the bed, gasping for precious air to sustain your winning soul, what are you taking with you and where are you taking it? Naked you came into this world…

Dualists hate this type of thinking. Simply put, because they fail to think far enough out, they don’t recognize how the concept of winners and losers is a zero-sum game in life. Dualists are Darwinian, survival of the fittest; either you win or lose.

While life does not grade you on a curve, life is played on the curve. Yes, there are winner and losers, but how about those who have played, both winning and losing to the point of being tied, and then said, “The hell with it.”? Or better yet, how about those who play by a different set of rules?

Right after Paul made his remark above, he claimed, “…Being justified freely by His grace…” God grades on a curve called grace.

You see it doesn’t matter how holy you are, how righteous your actions have been, how unsoiled your past is, you failed hitting the target of being god. Yes, that is what this is all about after all. Trying to be humble enough to be like a god of our own creation. Yet, even this game produces only losers from both ends of the spectrum, exaltation to humility, and everything in between.

Grace looks at the curve from exaltation to humility and says, “Nope, that’s not how it’s done. Nice try, though. Here is your reward when you’re ready to accept it.”

That last part is the bugger. Dualists hate acceptance. There is no sense of achievement in it, no striving required. Just accept, just believe; faith. No. Too easy. “I’ve worked at this life and this is all I have to show for it. You want to tell me that it doesn’t mean something? You want to tell me that grace takes it all away and counts it for naught?” Yes, if all those “things” were attempts to make you appear or feel worthy. From grace you already were worthy. There is nothing you can add to it, or just as important, nothing you can subtract from it. This is what living life on the curve is all about. The game is won even before you begin.