The First Taste of Grace

Vegetables do a wondrous thing for our bodies when we eat them early in a meal. They create a protective coating inside us that slows down the absorption of sugar, preventing spikes and helping regulate insulin. They stabilize energy levels, curb cravings, and promote fullness, keeping us from overindulging. They even improve how our bodies digest everything else.

What plays a similar role in our spiritual systems? I suggest it is community and mutual support.

The core of Jesus’ teaching on how we relate to each other—loving our neighbor—produces a stabilizing, fortifying, tempering experience spiritually. Caring for each other, building community, and offering mutual support enable us to receive the greater grace we need for ourselves. These humble aspects of following Jesus—like eating our root vegetables—work within us. They regulate our response to God’s grace delivered in every other way.

Just as moms everywhere remind their kids, “Don’t forget your vegetables” and “Eat your greens,” Scripture repeats this call:

•         1 John 1:7 — “If we walk in the light… we have fellowship with one another.”

•         Galatians 6:2 — “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

•         Hebrews 10:24–25 — “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds… encouraging one another.”

•         1 Thessalonians 5:11 — “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up.”

Jesus gave us the story of the Good Samaritan to teach that when we act as though anyone in need is just the same as us, we receive grace. His description of judgment comes down to this: How did we care for each other?

Showing kindness—recognizing that we are of a kind with the one before us—delivers grace we can grow from. We gain spiritual health through our care of someone else. Mutual care and embodied presence stabilize our own spiritual selves so that God’s grace can reach us in the most beneficial ways.

This is why we’re encouraged to

“… not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)

As we act out our faith in the season of Advent, we make sure to gather with other believers, so we grow in our ability to receive Grace well.