Another post from Nicole …
"In a moment of blinding fury at someone's shortcoming, my own shortcomings STARE me in the face. I am so dependent on God's grace, and find it so hard at times to show the grace I have been shown, to others. I want God to forgive me my zillion dollars of stupidity, but would prefer to extract the $1 someone owes me. Isn't human nature weird? If you're anything like me, at times you struggle with mercy. The thought that God would forgive those we don't want Him to forgive.
It is my grandmother's greatest hurdle in Christianity (and the OT genocides) – the woman who has endured so much under the Nazi regime, cannot cope with the thought that God would have potentially forgiven someone like Adolf Hitler. 'That grace of yours,' she once said to me 'is totally unfair!' And she is right. Only a God whose thoughts are above our thoughts, whose ways are above our ways, would forgive our vilest enemy.
And yet I marvel at this grace that John Newton penned as 'Amazing' – because the God who forgives my enemy, also forgives me. I am so glad His grace is so unfair."
Amen, Amen and Amen. I am finding Galatians a very challenging read. I think we humans tend to storm all over the grace of God without even realizing it. I went to Belgrave Heights Convention after church on Good Friday and we sang that song “Above All” the line that broke my heart was “like a rose, trampled on the ground, you took the fall and thought of me above all….” I have been trampling on the tremendous freedom I have in Christ, seeking to place boundaries around it somehow… but no… the love of God will not be contained or limited or in any way, it will not be shaped by my human need to control and make rules for myself and others… Such is the amazing Grace of God that his Grace, his Love is limitless… I’d like to thank Nicole for her words on Good Friday, I was determined not to fall apart, but her description of Mary’s encounter with Jesus took me deeper in my thinking and in my heart response than I have ever been before.. and of course I fell apart… Thank you.
It is unfair according to the worldly values we were taught. “Do onto others as they have done onto you”..God’s way is to “turn the other cheek”…..See the difference….
The Grace of God is so precious. If it were not for the Grace of the Lord, none of us would be saved.
Yet, we often take His Grace for granted and do not appreciate it.
I for one am guilty of this neglect to thank Him for His Grace.
Brother Paul has so wonderfully stated in Ephesians 2:1-10.
What divine privileges and blessings the Lord Jesus has given us through His Amazing Grace.