I am a liar, a cheat, a thief, and a blasphemer. I am simply, a sinner. I have nothing, but what the King of Glory has bestowed upon me, and I deserve no more than hell, and its fire. I am utterly lost...but I have been given grace.
I am loved, and I sin. I am accepted, and I sin. I am alive, and I sin...but I have been given grace.
So what then is grace? Grace is simple, yet undeserved. A gift of pure mercy, given to us, sinners who live in a world where Satan rules.
Who deserves this undeserved gift? All have sinned, and all need grace. Fortunately for us as sinners, Christ has taken mercy on us, to grant us something we do not deserve.
Grace points out, that we are all sinners, yet never denied God's love and mercy.
In a society of unexplainable desire, where is our holiness? As sinners we are granted holiness through Christ. Only with grace are we allowed to enter into the holy of holies. Our holiness is found in the only One worthy enough to be holy. The only One sinless enough to be holy. The only One to whom the whole world belongs, and yet the only One who doesn't cast us aside.
For wasn't it Jesus who said, "It is mercy that I desire and not sacrifice. I have come not to call the self-righteous, but sinners."
If it is hard to accept that we are all sinners, then it is hard to accept grace. "For grace has to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale. [Robert Capon]
It took me years to admit, that although saved by grace through faith, I still sin.
It shook my world, as I listened to a segment on the radio, and the announcer was quoting a preacher. He said, "God would rather us sin, so that he could show us His unfailing, and endless supply of grace."
Paul wrote in Corinthians, "My Lord said, 'My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.' So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me."
We live everyday. And everyday we continue to write the biography of our lives with the ink of grace. So how does the biography of our lives intertwine with the divine?"
It intertwines at the very place where grace and mercy were born. The very place and reason why we can boast of our weaknesses...the cross.
The blood of the slain Lamb is in itself the most basic idea of grace--He gave up His perfection for us, His immortality for our mortality His heaven for our earth, and His Father's love for our sin. His life was sacrificed for me, a sinner. I can't imagine why anyone would die on my behalf. Brennan Manning paints a beautiful picture, "The blood of the Lamb points to the truth of grace: what we can not do for ourselves, God has done for us...the sinner saved by grace is haunted by Calvary, by the cross."
For as someone who is completely, and totally abandoned to Christ, I can't imagine why anyone would die for me.
But God, in his mercy claims, "I loved you so much, I gave my only son for you."
I have realized that my sin crucified my Savior, and His grace, forgives when I place Him on the cross over and over with sin. For every time we sin, we watch the blood run down His back upon the cross, and laugh, and mock and put in our two bits for His robe.
But the beauty... "The gospel of grace is this: A God , who out of love for us, sent the only Son He ever had wrapped in our skin. He learned how to walk, stumbled and fell, cried for His milk, sweated blood in the night, was lashed with a whip and showered with spit, was fixed to a cross and died whispering forgiveness on us all." [Manning]
This, my friends, is grace. And this, is why I boast, as a sinner, of my utter weakness.
I am a liar, a cheat, a thief, and a blasphemer...but I have been given grace.
I am loved, and I sin. I am accepted, and I sin. I am alive, and I sin...but I have been given grace.
So what then is grace? Grace is simple, yet undeserved. A gift of pure mercy, given to us, sinners who live in a world where Satan rules.
Who deserves this undeserved gift? All have sinned, and all need grace. Fortunately for us as sinners, Christ has taken mercy on us, to grant us something we do not deserve.
Grace points out, that we are all sinners, yet never denied God's love and mercy.
In a society of unexplainable desire, where is our holiness? As sinners we are granted holiness through Christ. Only with grace are we allowed to enter into the holy of holies. Our holiness is found in the only One worthy enough to be holy. The only One sinless enough to be holy. The only One to whom the whole world belongs, and yet the only One who doesn't cast us aside.
For wasn't it Jesus who said, "It is mercy that I desire and not sacrifice. I have come not to call the self-righteous, but sinners."
If it is hard to accept that we are all sinners, then it is hard to accept grace. "For grace has to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale. [Robert Capon]
It took me years to admit, that although saved by grace through faith, I still sin.
It shook my world, as I listened to a segment on the radio, and the announcer was quoting a preacher. He said, "God would rather us sin, so that he could show us His unfailing, and endless supply of grace."
Paul wrote in Corinthians, "My Lord said, 'My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.' So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me."
We live everyday. And everyday we continue to write the biography of our lives with the ink of grace. So how does the biography of our lives intertwine with the divine?"
It intertwines at the very place where grace and mercy were born. The very place and reason why we can boast of our weaknesses...the cross.
The blood of the slain Lamb is in itself the most basic idea of grace--He gave up His perfection for us, His immortality for our mortality His heaven for our earth, and His Father's love for our sin. His life was sacrificed for me, a sinner. I can't imagine why anyone would die on my behalf. Brennan Manning paints a beautiful picture, "The blood of the Lamb points to the truth of grace: what we can not do for ourselves, God has done for us...the sinner saved by grace is haunted by Calvary, by the cross."
For as someone who is completely, and totally abandoned to Christ, I can't imagine why anyone would die for me.
But God, in his mercy claims, "I loved you so much, I gave my only son for you."
I have realized that my sin crucified my Savior, and His grace, forgives when I place Him on the cross over and over with sin. For every time we sin, we watch the blood run down His back upon the cross, and laugh, and mock and put in our two bits for His robe.
But the beauty... "The gospel of grace is this: A God , who out of love for us, sent the only Son He ever had wrapped in our skin. He learned how to walk, stumbled and fell, cried for His milk, sweated blood in the night, was lashed with a whip and showered with spit, was fixed to a cross and died whispering forgiveness on us all." [Manning]
This, my friends, is grace. And this, is why I boast, as a sinner, of my utter weakness.
I am a liar, a cheat, a thief, and a blasphemer...but I have been given grace.
I attended a funeral yesterday, and one of the songs we sang was "How Great Thou Art." I made it fine through the first verse and the chorus, but couldn't stop the tears as we sang the second verse. "And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in, that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin." Sometimes, like yesterday, it hits me like a brick: this actually happened. It's not just a song or just a story. It's a reality. God, in His infinite, boundless, incomprehensible love, purchased my life with the blood of His Son. "For you have been bought with a price," the Bible says. He paid so much more than I - a liar, a cheat, a thief, and a blasphemer - was worth, and yet through His death made me worthy. And now? Grace. Beautiful grace.
ReplyDeleteYou make me regret not getting to know you better, Aly. I love your heart.