Grace Is Like Grits

Gò0dNews from the Pastor’s Desk

Grace Is Like Grits

by Bobby Fleck

Grace…it’s free? There has to be a catch. After all, we all know there is no such thing as a free lunch, right? Most of us have been duped at one time or another (or maybe many times before) by someone offering something that they presented as “free” only to find out that there was a catch. Sign up for a free trial subscription to a streaming service with your credit card only to be charged indefinitely $19.99 a month until you cancel. A free door-buster at a store quickly turns into a high-pressure sales tactic to get you to spend more money. A free night’s stay at a hotel is attached to a three-hour-long presentation on a time-share rental. Yep, we’ve probably all been there way too many times. We are tired of being tricked into something we didn’t sign up for, which is perfectly understandable.

Here’s a vignette I recently heard:

A couple went to Waffle House for an affordable meal out. The couple looked over the menu intently and found what they wanted to order. After returning with their drinks, the waitress asks, “What can I get started for you?” The man looks at the waitress, and he says, “I would like the All-Star Special but leave off the grits.” The man thought to himself that this was a simple enough request. The waitress replied, “Sorry, grits come with the All-Star Special.” The man responded, “That’s fine. I am not asking for a change in the price of the meal. Just don’t bring me the grits.” Persistent, the waitress said, “Grits are like grace, sir. You get ’em whether you want ’em or not.”

The instant I heard that little vignette, I completely agreed with the story. Not about grace, at least not initially. I’ve been in this exact situation at Waffle House before and tried not to get the grits. My waitress protested as well and told me the grits would be there regardless. In a situation like this, where the grits are there whether or not I want them, it in effect makes them free. They are a bonus, an extra, there regardless. The Bible says something similar about a free gift: “But the free gift of Christ isn’t like Adam’s failure. If many people died through what one person did wrong, God’s grace is multiplied even more for many people with the gift—of the one person Jesus Christ—that comes through grace” (Romans 5:15, CEB).

God’s gift to us through Jesus is multiplied for all because of what the one (Jesus) did for all. That gift, just like the grace at Waffle House, is available and on the plate of life whether or not you order it. Yes, this grace is free. There is nothing you can do to earn it. There is nothing you can do to add value to grace or subtract value from grace. This grace—God’s grace—is free, truly free. God’s grace is like grits…it’s there whether or not you want it.

Thank God for the grits of grace.

About The Author

Bobby Fleck has been in ministry for nineteen years as a youth pastor, family pastor, and associate pastor. Bobby, Tiffini, and their triplet nine-year-old daughters live in Ringgold, GA. Bobby is an Ordained Pastor with the International Ministerial Fellowship and currently works in community relations for Healthy Foundations, a non-profit healthcare initiative in Northwest Georgia.