I have some favorite words on the assurance of God's forgiveness.
I got to thinking about unconditional love and and unconditional forgiveness in the middle of the night last night. Not that I was sitting up thinking deep thoughts or anything.
I was just watching Glee on demand online, mostly because I love the music and because the evil cheer squad coach totally cracks me up. Anyway, one of the story lines is about a young couple that gets themselves in trouble. The girl's parents reject them, literally throwing their daugher out. There is no forgiveness. The boy's mother, worried and upset, nonetheless offers to support the couple as best she can. She gives them unconditional love and forgiveness.
Grace, to me, feels like that.
My favorite words on grace are biblical and poetical.
The promise of the "free gift" of grace and rightgeousness comes in Paul's letter to the Romans, Chapter 5:1-5, 8-9.
"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Chrit, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that surffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character , and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."
"God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God."
Does that leave us free to live a sin filled life? Nah...that's where the gratitude comes in. And just wait until I post that reflection. It will include the thoughts of an accused spree killer on the issue of where she stands with God. Hint: her thoughts, which she shared with me during a jailhouse interview, sent me running for my pastor for a some theological guideance. Actually, more of a theological intervention.
The poetry of grace is captured, I think, by one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver. Whether she intended "Wild Geese" to be a spiritual piece or not, to me it speaks of God's unconditional acceptance of us.
I got to thinking about unconditional love and and unconditional forgiveness in the middle of the night last night. Not that I was sitting up thinking deep thoughts or anything.
I was just watching Glee on demand online, mostly because I love the music and because the evil cheer squad coach totally cracks me up. Anyway, one of the story lines is about a young couple that gets themselves in trouble. The girl's parents reject them, literally throwing their daugher out. There is no forgiveness. The boy's mother, worried and upset, nonetheless offers to support the couple as best she can. She gives them unconditional love and forgiveness.
Grace, to me, feels like that.
My favorite words on grace are biblical and poetical.
The promise of the "free gift" of grace and rightgeousness comes in Paul's letter to the Romans, Chapter 5:1-5, 8-9.
"Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Chrit, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that surffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character , and character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."
"God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God."
Does that leave us free to live a sin filled life? Nah...that's where the gratitude comes in. And just wait until I post that reflection. It will include the thoughts of an accused spree killer on the issue of where she stands with God. Hint: her thoughts, which she shared with me during a jailhouse interview, sent me running for my pastor for a some theological guideance. Actually, more of a theological intervention.
The poetry of grace is captured, I think, by one of my favorite poets, Mary Oliver. Whether she intended "Wild Geese" to be a spiritual piece or not, to me it speaks of God's unconditional acceptance of us.
Wild Geese
You do not have to be good.
You do not hae to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
I was thinking about grace the other day, elbow deep in warm water, soap suds and dirty dishes. I snapped at my son for failing to follow directions and he sulked off to a different part of the house. God very quietly reminded me of how often I fail to follow his directions and how instead of snapping at me he offered the greatest gift. It was a needed reminder of how often I fail to have grace within my relationships.
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