Grace. The singular word that has been whirling through my head and moving in my heart these past few weeks.
What is this amazing grace? What does it really mean to know the grace of God?
The simple, easy definition (as taught by my high school youth pastor) is "getting what you don't deserve."
I full heartedly agree. But grace does not stop there.
Grace, as I am finding out, goes so much deeper. Grace is interwoven through the cross, through creation, and through the grit and grime of this world.
In Preston Sprinkle's book Charis: God's Scandalous Grace for Us, Sprinkle defines God's Divine Grace as "God's relentless and loving pursuit of His enemies, who are unthankful, unworthy, and unlovable. Grace is not just God's ability to save sinners, but God's stubborn delight in His enemies." (Sprinkle, 24)
Stop. Think about that for a minute -- God stubbornly delights in His ENEMIES. God stubbornly delights in ME. God stubbornly delights in YOU.
Even when I forget about God, when I put other things above Him on my priority list, when I silently tell Him I know what I need more than he knows.. HE STUBBORNLY PURSUES ME.
This is because of His grace. You see, grace has nothing to do with me and what I do. Grace, God's grace, has everything to do with WHO GOD IS. Nothing I do can change the way God gives me grace, just like nothing I can do can change the way God loves me.
He takes delight in my as His creation. He reaches for me. He pursues me with unrelenting love.
Believe me... I shouldn't be chased after like He chases after me.
Yet, because grace has nothing to do with me and everything to do with God, he pursues me. He fights for my affection.
Right now, if you've made it this far, you might be thinking, "Hey! I thought I was going to read a juicy article about a celebrity scandal, and unthinkable act committed, a disgusting thing to scoff at... where is the scandal??"
Now look again... see all the bold words?
GRACE. The greatest scandal of all is God's grace.
What?! A scandalous God?! No way. Blasphemy.
Let's examine the word scandal for a moment. As defined by the great Google search, scandal means this: "an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage."
Think about that.... a scandal causes general public outrage. It is seen as contrary to justice. It is legally wrong.
Now, think about God's grace. Not the clean, pretty picture we paint on Sunday morning that is only accessible to those who have accepted His gift of salvation and sit in the church pew. His true grace.
You see, God's grace journeys through the darkest allies, the dirtiest bars, the ugliest prisons. God's grace penetrates the hearts of the broken, the needy, the filthy sinners.
His grace goes against our culture's view of justice. His grace goes against our human nature of not forgiving. His grace throws our habits of defining a person by their past into our faces.
When the most unforgivable sinner confesses salvation, we doubt.
When someone with a stained past desires to teach Sunday School, we hesitate.
When we hear of someone turning back to God, we say, "I hope it's sincere. Only time will tell..." while we watch their every move and judge their every step.
WHY DO WE DO THIS TO OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS??
Because we haven't yet comprehended God's grace in our own lives.
God's grace says, "You are clean. You are mine. I have pursued you and you have accepted my love. You are set apart. Your past does not define you, for I no longer hold it against you."
God has used, is using, and will continue to use the greatest sinners on this planet to show His beautiful, scandalous grace. God delights in giving grace to the chief of sinners.
God showed great grace and used some of the most immoral, sinful people in the Bible. The Old Testament, as explored by Preston Sprinkle, is filled with God's grace. David, Moses, Rahab, Judah, Jonah, Abraham - All people who we hold as heroes. All filthy. All sinful.
Their legacy has nothing to do with them. If it did, we would never tell our children stories about them.
Their legacy is all because of what God did in their lives. How God relentlessly pursued them. How he stubbornly delighted in them. (Sprinkle).
The same grace God showed through their lives is shown in my very own life.
My prideful, selfish, gossipping, grumbling, impatient, doubting, filthy heart is pursued after by a God who delights in me.
I am no better than those in the Old Testament. I am every bit in need of his scandalous grace as they are. We all are.
I have come to the conclusion that as I begin to understand the true, scandalous, relentless grace of God three things drastically change in my life:
1). I realize just how much I need God's grace.
My sin is just as bad as the sin of the teenage girl sitting in the abortion clinic. My sin is as deep as the serial killer who is spending the rest of his life in jail. My sin is as filthy as the sin of the man who ordered the annihilation of an entire people group. My sin is different, but every bit as dirty.
I truly am a chief of sinners. I need grace. I need God's scandalous grace.
2). God takes pleasure in having a relationship with me.
His grace would not be scandalous if this were not true. He doesn't have to dwell in this filthy heart of mine, yet He chose to come and make it clean...because He desired to have a relationship with me. Nothing I do will change this. Nothing YOU do will change the truth of this for YOU.
3). There is not a single person I will ever meet who God does not want to relentlessly pursue.
How I view people is drastically changing. They are no more sinful than I am, and I am not holier than they are. God has chosen to have a relationship with the entire human race. Each person is special, loved, pursued, and desired by the same God who loves me, calls me His, pursues me, and desires a relationship with me. This is His grace.
I challenge you to dive deeper into the depths of His grace. Search what it means to know the grace of God. Bask in his pursuit of you. Delight in His delight of you.
Let the grace of God dwell in you richly.
Sources:
Sprinkle, Preston M. Charis: God's Scandalous Grace for Us. Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2014. Print.
What is this amazing grace? What does it really mean to know the grace of God?
The simple, easy definition (as taught by my high school youth pastor) is "getting what you don't deserve."
I full heartedly agree. But grace does not stop there.
Grace, as I am finding out, goes so much deeper. Grace is interwoven through the cross, through creation, and through the grit and grime of this world.
In Preston Sprinkle's book Charis: God's Scandalous Grace for Us, Sprinkle defines God's Divine Grace as "God's relentless and loving pursuit of His enemies, who are unthankful, unworthy, and unlovable. Grace is not just God's ability to save sinners, but God's stubborn delight in His enemies." (Sprinkle, 24)
Stop. Think about that for a minute -- God stubbornly delights in His ENEMIES. God stubbornly delights in ME. God stubbornly delights in YOU.
Even when I forget about God, when I put other things above Him on my priority list, when I silently tell Him I know what I need more than he knows.. HE STUBBORNLY PURSUES ME.
This is because of His grace. You see, grace has nothing to do with me and what I do. Grace, God's grace, has everything to do with WHO GOD IS. Nothing I do can change the way God gives me grace, just like nothing I can do can change the way God loves me.
He takes delight in my as His creation. He reaches for me. He pursues me with unrelenting love.
Believe me... I shouldn't be chased after like He chases after me.
Yet, because grace has nothing to do with me and everything to do with God, he pursues me. He fights for my affection.
Right now, if you've made it this far, you might be thinking, "Hey! I thought I was going to read a juicy article about a celebrity scandal, and unthinkable act committed, a disgusting thing to scoff at... where is the scandal??"
Now look again... see all the bold words?
GRACE. The greatest scandal of all is God's grace.
What?! A scandalous God?! No way. Blasphemy.
Let's examine the word scandal for a moment. As defined by the great Google search, scandal means this: "an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage."
Think about that.... a scandal causes general public outrage. It is seen as contrary to justice. It is legally wrong.
Now, think about God's grace. Not the clean, pretty picture we paint on Sunday morning that is only accessible to those who have accepted His gift of salvation and sit in the church pew. His true grace.
You see, God's grace journeys through the darkest allies, the dirtiest bars, the ugliest prisons. God's grace penetrates the hearts of the broken, the needy, the filthy sinners.
His grace goes against our culture's view of justice. His grace goes against our human nature of not forgiving. His grace throws our habits of defining a person by their past into our faces.
When the most unforgivable sinner confesses salvation, we doubt.
When someone with a stained past desires to teach Sunday School, we hesitate.
When we hear of someone turning back to God, we say, "I hope it's sincere. Only time will tell..." while we watch their every move and judge their every step.
WHY DO WE DO THIS TO OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS??
Because we haven't yet comprehended God's grace in our own lives.
God's grace says, "You are clean. You are mine. I have pursued you and you have accepted my love. You are set apart. Your past does not define you, for I no longer hold it against you."
God has used, is using, and will continue to use the greatest sinners on this planet to show His beautiful, scandalous grace. God delights in giving grace to the chief of sinners.
God showed great grace and used some of the most immoral, sinful people in the Bible. The Old Testament, as explored by Preston Sprinkle, is filled with God's grace. David, Moses, Rahab, Judah, Jonah, Abraham - All people who we hold as heroes. All filthy. All sinful.
Their legacy has nothing to do with them. If it did, we would never tell our children stories about them.
Their legacy is all because of what God did in their lives. How God relentlessly pursued them. How he stubbornly delighted in them. (Sprinkle).
The same grace God showed through their lives is shown in my very own life.
My prideful, selfish, gossipping, grumbling, impatient, doubting, filthy heart is pursued after by a God who delights in me.
I am no better than those in the Old Testament. I am every bit in need of his scandalous grace as they are. We all are.
I have come to the conclusion that as I begin to understand the true, scandalous, relentless grace of God three things drastically change in my life:
1). I realize just how much I need God's grace.
My sin is just as bad as the sin of the teenage girl sitting in the abortion clinic. My sin is as deep as the serial killer who is spending the rest of his life in jail. My sin is as filthy as the sin of the man who ordered the annihilation of an entire people group. My sin is different, but every bit as dirty.
I truly am a chief of sinners. I need grace. I need God's scandalous grace.
2). God takes pleasure in having a relationship with me.
His grace would not be scandalous if this were not true. He doesn't have to dwell in this filthy heart of mine, yet He chose to come and make it clean...because He desired to have a relationship with me. Nothing I do will change this. Nothing YOU do will change the truth of this for YOU.
3). There is not a single person I will ever meet who God does not want to relentlessly pursue.
How I view people is drastically changing. They are no more sinful than I am, and I am not holier than they are. God has chosen to have a relationship with the entire human race. Each person is special, loved, pursued, and desired by the same God who loves me, calls me His, pursues me, and desires a relationship with me. This is His grace.
I challenge you to dive deeper into the depths of His grace. Search what it means to know the grace of God. Bask in his pursuit of you. Delight in His delight of you.
Let the grace of God dwell in you richly.
Sources:
Sprinkle, Preston M. Charis: God's Scandalous Grace for Us. Colorado Springs: David C Cook, 2014. Print.