When we proclaim a word of grace to a world dying for love, dying for hope, dying to be received for who they are, we are following in the footsteps of Jesus.
When we allow grace to become the driving force in our congregation, we are becoming more like the church that God calls us to be.
When grace is at work in our homes, our offices, our schools and our playgrounds, we are living out the very gospel.
Grace is amazing but it is not an easy thing to understand. I was teaching a Bible study on Romans many years ago in another church. We came to chapter 8 and that marvelous section that reminds us “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, NOR ANYTHING else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God.”
I suggested to the class that the implication here was quite clear: God will do everything possible to bring us under the loving care of heaven. God will never run out of patience with us. God, in this life or in the next, will do everything possible to bring all of us to the place named home, to the place where we finally will be loved.
A man in the class asked to speak to me afterward. “I’ve lived my whole life doing the right thing, practicing morality, making the right choices. Now you’re telling me it didn’t matter, that God loves everybody anyway. Why should I bother with living a good life when grace is there?”
The central issue? He didn’t think he needed grace.
I understand what he is getting at but look at Jesus in the gospel stories. He is kind and compassionate to the lost, the least, the little, the sinners, the ones who knew that they needed grace. He saved his harshest words for the super religious ones who thought they didn’t need grace.
In the book, If Grace is True, the authors write, “God has loved us from the very beginning…God did not wait to see if we were lovable. God did not re- quire us to earn God’s love. God did not reserve his love for some and deny it to others. God has loved all of us from the very beginning.” Amazing and true.
Grace and peace to you,
-Glen
