Grace

I have just finished a book the I would highly recommend called Room of Marvels by James Bryan Smith. It is a powerful book especially if you have suffered great loss or tragedy and are questioning God.

The thing I am reflecting on right now that the book help me focus on and sort out is Grace. I have to say growing up I was not taught much about grace. It was a word I heard a lot at church but I had no real understanding of. As I went through seminary and attended different churches, my view of grace started to grow. This is where I am with it now...

I think that because of our mortality we are far removed from understand the incredible separation we have from God. We, as humans, cannot even begin to grasp his complete holiness and righteousness. Because of that we cannot truly understand our own sinfulness. Yet in all of that to understand his plan to pay the price so we could one day enter into a relationship with such purity is all about grace. When I begin to understand more about that separation, I see more clearly the incredible work Jesus did on the cross. I also become more aware of my unconscious and conscious efforts to somehow earn my place in heaven, or on God's good side. How utterly ridiculous to think I had anything to do with my own salvation except to surrender when I heard God's call. Ever breath I take, every promise God has fulfilled in my life, every blessing from his hand is only because of grace. In light of God's great holiness, I deserve nothing, and yet he offers me a seat in heaven because of grace.

What drives this amazing grace? LOVE. There is no greater thing and no other reason than love. God created us to love us and to love him. When my service to God is driven out of love for him, rather than trying to earn or prove something, I am free. In the end there is only love, loving God and loving people. (I Corinthians 13, Mark 12;28-34)

I could go on about the implications of this amazing grace, and I probably will at a later date as I process the things this book brought to light. However, I would like to touch on just one facet of this for now. There is a teaching out there that there flies in the face of grace and leads to people believe false things, becoming disillusioned and angry. There is this belief in a sort of religious Karma, that if we do good and are religious, God will reward us with success and heaven. This leads us to feel that we have to or do control everything in our lives. What stress! Our lives though are best lived, when we surrender control to God. It is all about grace, we can't be good enough to get a perfect life on earth. Give God control of your life, and see how peaceful you will be in the midst of the mess.