Grace Binge

I am on a bit of a Grace Binge. I have read and reread everything I can get my hands on about Grace.  I just finished Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace. I think next I will read a couple from Max Lucado and then maybe Swindoll and Spurgeon. I am doing this because I have become concerned about the confusion about grace among Christians and the alarming lack of grace in most of our lives. After Yancey wrote his classic, he was lambasted for remaining a friend to a prominent Christian who announced he was gay. He was clear that He was hating the sin and loving the sinner, but that wasn’t good enough for many “good” Christians who filled his mailbox with hate mail. Same thing happened when he visited the White House when the Clintons were there and wrote about their spiritual life. Apparently some “good Christians” believe only Republicans have spiritual lives. Yancey’s acts seemed to me like very graceful things to do and the fact that so many seem to violently disagree with Yancey and me has sent me back to the library (well Amazon anyway).

I am not sure I’ll learn more than I can gleam from the great hymn, Amazing Grace.

“That saved a wretch like me” Seems like grace works best, last longest and is most appreciated by those who find it when they are at their lowest. Maybe the problem with some of my Christian brothers is that they never came to the “I’m a wretch” point. Maybe when they sing the hymn they think of the former slaver who wrote it and not the sinner who is singing it.

“Once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” Maybe these grace confused Christians, weren’t ever lost, their GPS was just confused. Maybe, they were never blind, but just needed a new prescription for their glasses. Grace seems a best fit for those who are lost and blind and know it.

“Grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fear relieved.” You have to really fear God and the pains of hell before the relief grace brings is really noticeable. Recent surveys show that many Christians don’t believe in hell. The things many of them do reveals they don’t really fear God. A former slaver knows about hell and fears that’s where he belongs.

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years.” Maybe some forget what grace accomplishes. They don’t understand forgiveness doesn’t just mean that we get to feel better about ourselves. That we get to go to church, tithe, and feel superior to those who don’t. It means that we get to live forever with Jesus. If you don’t understand the prize, it’s hard to appreciate the gift.

“Praise God Praise God Praise God Praise God” Enough said.

Be blessed.