Posted in Advent, tagged Christ, God's grace, gospel, Grace, hope, love, mercy, Messiah, mission, Paul, promise, sin, way of Jesus on December 10, 2009|
Leave a Comment »
Each day has an abundance of bad choices, wrong steps, hurt feelings, and ill temper. If my sins were collected in bottles, I’d have a case of them in no time at all. This is why I am so grateful for a faith that offers an abundance of grace (unmerited favor, spiritual blessing, and mercy [Amplified]).
Acts 20:24b
“…if only I [Paul] may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.”
The people of Paul’s time were equally downtrodden with the burdens of their day. For the Jews, it was the codified law that had become a heavy weight around their necks. There was no way to follow and meet the standards of that law. For the non-Jews who believed in Yahweh (and thereby, one God), there was this overwhelming sense of being on the “outside” of the whole truth, stepchildren of the faithful. And for those who had walked away from God, there was no hope of redemption at all.
This was the message of grace that Paul offered to everyone he met: accept Jesus as the Messiah and find freedom in his rabbi’s yoke.
Some fear this emphasis on grace and have coined the appropriation of God’s Grace when applied everything and everyone as “cheap grace” particularly when a person calls on grace to cover ongoing and willful sins or bad behaviors. But, if grace belongs to God, then it is God who ultimately sorts out the application of His love to a person’s circumstances or human troubles.
My job, like Paul’s, is to tell the story of God’s Grace in my life. I cannot know how grace will feel or look in the life of another. But I do know, on the day that Grace covered me, I was made new. Where there had been no hope, there was hope. Where there had been disillusionment and fear, there was confidence and peace. Where there had been deep sorrows, there was a possibility for joy.
And so it goes each day, I pour out my bottle of sins and grievances into the hands of Christ and He has me drink instead from the cup of his mercy.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Read Full Post »
A prayer and a blessing all rolled up into one. It’s a call for guidance and help along the way. It’s a process prayer in the midst of a situation. It’s acknowledging the present while seeking support in the “next step.” And along with this succor comes the presence of love and perseverance. 
Meditations from Zion 