I have a defunct blog where I used to write my religious musings before joining Exponent II. I was trying to find something to write about today, and I couldn’t think of anything. (Or, rather, I couldn’t verbalize the things I was thinking. Stay tuned for the future when I’ve had a chance to write it all out.) I flipped back through the archives of my old blog to see if there was anything to repost, and I found an old piece that posed a question I still haven’t answered. So, here goes:
Sometimes I’ll catch myself singing hymns without spending too much time actually thinking about the words. Today at church, we sang hymn 240, Know This, That Every Soul Is Free. As I got to verse 4, I noticed a phrase that struck me as a bit odd.
“Our God is pleased when we improve His grace and seek His perfect love.”
What does it mean to improve the grace of God? I’ve always viewed God’s grace as perfect.
I did a search in the scripture section of the church website, where I typed the phrase “improve grace” into the search box. I didn’t get any results.
The only thing I can think of is in the context of real estate. A piece of empty land is said to be “improved” when a structure is built on it. So maybe what the hymn means is that when we have God’s grace in our life, we should do something with it.
That’s all I’ve got. Any other thoughts on what it could mean?
I thought of the “improvement societies” back in history. Groups gathered together to communally “improve” in a variety of ways (education, social work, Boy Scouts, AA equivalents, etc.). The Relief Society, Young Women’s, and Primary were essentially improvement groups that got integrated into the church culture and organization structure.
So maybe the hymn is about gathering together with others under God’s mentorship?
2 Peter 3:18: “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” Growing in grace was the closest I found, but it did get me thinking!
Maybe it’s just to relax and enjoy the ride during our time on this glorious earth? As we do we’ll naturally want to help others have a better experience than they may be having, so we roll up our sleeves and do what we can to assist them, but without getting anxious about it. Self-care is essential to maintaining balance. Christ spent forty days in the wilderness to get His head on straight.