Grace Modeste

Grace Modeste
“…with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.” Ep4.2

One governing dynamic that should accompany our interaction with others is "grace modeste," an unassuming grace. Any discussion of a spiritual nature should reflect this kindness. There are few things more ugly, as we say in the South, than the person who walks around with an air of superiority. We use the expression, “looking down the nose,” to describe one who inwardly believes that they are somehow better, more enlightened, more educated, more refined or theologically correct than someone else. We have all witnessed this arrogance, we all also, have borne witness to it in our own treatment of our neighbor. We walk on dangerous ground anytime we compare ourselves with someone else and have an elevated and inflated opinion of ourselves.
As Christians we believe that Christ alone is perfect. Yet in His interaction with others, the only superior person, never conveyed an air of superiority, but an aura of gentleness and tolerant humility.
I think one arena where we get into trouble is in our dialogue on moral and spiritual matters, especially with those who have a different background than our own. Somehow dialogue digresses into monologue and we spend more energy trying to make our own point, rather than seeking to understand the others.
Another equal and opposite danger is that we many times want others to see us as one of the enlightened, who are tolerant of people of a different moral persuasion to the extreme that we never disagree with them. It is possible to convey our Christian convictions with an unassuming grace, to tell others that Christianity teaches certain moral absolutes but to share it without condescending arrogance. The only perfect person has told us that he did not come to throw stones but to be stoned on our behalf. Yet He still, with an unassuming grace, tells us, “Go, and sin no more.” 1/30/07 ts