Michael Jensen on Grace

Every month, The Good Book Company make available digital versions of one of their books at no charge. This month (August 2021) it’s Is forgiveness really free? And other questions about grace, the law and being saved by Michael Jensen, available in exchange for an email address here.

Grace for Crooked Timber

The below article was written for the WorkForum at the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

‘Hire for character, train for skills.’ That line – and its variations – has become something of a mantra in many workplace contexts. Of course, on its own it says very little about how companies or organisations should apply it to their recruitment processes. It also seems to suggest that character and skill are mutually exclusive. Why not go for both?

Even so, the significance of character has become a topic of discussion in many circles – among politicians as well as philosophers, for educationalists as well as for employers. Cultivating virtues such as honesty, fairness, and self-control are increasingly seen as a way of addressing many of the challenges facing society today.

‘Character’ is a way of referring to certain qualities that mark people out. They have to be consistent enough in someone to be counted as traits, and they need to run through every aspect of life. Those of us concerned with working out our discipleship in the whole of life are unlikely to disagree: if I’m kind to my colleagues at work but an ogre with my spouse and children at home, I can’t claim to be kind.

People of distinctive character in an office or a shop or a department can set a certain tone for how the workplace operates. Working in a trustworthy manner, showing genuine respect for others, exercising resilience in the face of difficulties, taking responsibility for actions – all contribute to the development of trust within the workplace, and make a positive impact on employers and employees, colleagues and clients. Over a period of time, people of character may even set a business or organisation apart from others.

Small wonder, then, that character education is increasingly seen as the best preparation of young people for life in modern Britain, with calls for children to develop ‘grit’ – confidence, perseverance, resilience – in order to equip them to meet the challenges of future life. How this is to be done, and whether or not it places an unrealistic demand on educators are moot points. Also debatable is whether ‘grit’ is still about those qualities which look more ‘successful’ – whether in education or at work – rather than traits such as selflessness, humility, and generosity. When you ‘hire for character’, what kind of character are you looking to hire?

In his illuminating book, The Road to Character, David Brooks makes a helpful distinction between ‘résumé virtues’ (the skills you bring to the marketplace) and ‘eulogy virtues’ (the ones that are talked about at your funeral).

According to Brooks, we live in the culture of ‘the Big Me’, where success is achieved through competition with others, where the rules of life are those we make for ourselves, where the self is defined by tasks and accomplishments. Instead, he says, painting an alternative ‘moral ecology’, those to be admired are honest about their weaknesses (whether selfishness, pride or cowardice), but their character is built precisely through confronting weakness. They are humble, self-aware, other-centered, and ‘become more disciplined, considerate, and loving through a thousand small acts of self-control, sharing, service, and refined enjoyment’.

Brooks calls this the ‘crooked timber’ school of humanity, the recognition that we are richly endowed yet deeply flawed. He writes as a cultural and political commentator, not a theologian, but his unashamed use of words like ‘sin’, ‘righteousness’, and ‘redemption’ resonate with a Christian perspective, as does his declaration towards the end of the book that ‘we are all ultimately saved by grace’.

Whether or not he speaks more than he knows at this point, this is the ultimate answer to the issue of character and its formation – the need for a rescue that comes from elsewhere, outside our own capacity to make something of ourselves. Christianity is not alone in producing people of moral character, but it is alone in offering good news of free grace. And it’s that grace which not only brings about a new standing in Christ, but the empowerment to become leaders who reflect in our own character something of him.

Resolved #1: To Stand in Freedom

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery... You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Galatians 5:1, 13

The start of a new year prompts thoughts about new beginnings: new diets to keep, new regimes of exercise to follow, new patterns of study to adopt, new determination to show more appreciation to colleagues, new undertaking to spend quality time with the children, new commitment to work on the house...

So far as we can tell, humans have always marked what has been seen as a ‘new year’. And the resolve at such times to ‘do better’ goes back at least to ancient Babylon. Something about the turn of the calendar carries with it a pervasive and powerful desire for a fresh start, a clean slate.

Indeed, many wise Christians down the centuries have encouraged the discipline of renewed reflection and fresh resolve at this time of the year. And we should celebrate genuine change where it occurs. But church history and practical experience warn us of the dangers of trying to secure ‘salvation’ through keeping a set of ‘rules’ or following a certain ‘code’, with the risk of looking down on others who don’t quite make the grade, or despairing with ourselves that we can’t manage it either.

To such people comes the message of freedom. It’s a message the Galatians needed to hear. And in a first-century Roman context, it would have conjured up images of being freed from slavery. Christ has set us free! For the start of a new year, then, comes a reminder that the heart of the Christian faith is not mere potential for self-improvement, but freedom, won by Christ – that we are free from the pressure of having to do things to gain favour with God, free from trying to prove something to ourselves and to others, free to submit to the rule of Christ.

Like Eustace – the boy-turned-dragon – in C.S. Lewis’ The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we will give up in frustration if we try, by ourselves, to remove our ‘dragonish’ scales. Only as we submit to the sharp claws of Aslan will we discover what it is like to be set free from our old skin, to be made clean, and then dressed in new clothes.

May this be the year not when we discover our own capacity for self-improvement, but when we discover afresh Christ – and the freedom he brings.

Credo Magazine 2, 3 (May 2012)

The next issue of Credo is now out, this one devoted to the topic of ‘Chosen by Grace’.

According to the editorial blurb:

‘The biblical doctrine of election is offensive. It collides with our demand for human autonomy. It removes our will from the throne. And it exposes our nakedness, revealing us to be the sinners that we truly are, undeserving of divine grace and mercy.

‘But when our eyes are opened to its glory, we begin to see that the doctrine of election leads us to worship, praise, and give thanks to our Sovereign Lord...’

The magazine is available to read here, and can be downloaded as a 20.8 MB pdf from a link on this page.