I have been starting to read through The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning and I have been beaten down by the truth of God’s Grace. I have always thought of grace as that unmerited favor God bestows upon me but I don’t think the reality of what grace is sunk in until this afternoon. My thoughts about grace were not wrong but I never fully digested how grace needs to be understood fully and taken to heart before a wondrous world opens up.
As any christian would attest to we struggle daily with sin in many different forms whether it is vanity, lust, hate, sex, drugs, alcohol, pride, pornography, apathy the list is endless. I know many times I have looked at sin in my life and thought, “You know God doesn’t want me to look at this or that so I am going to do THIS to fix it!” It is a constant cycle that I have found myself in time and time again. If I only were able to get this straightened out. Why do I keep failing? The problem I face is me. I am trying to do what I think God wants me to do. Now enter grace into the picture! Grace is the antithesis of self, works, and the self imposed law I find myself trying to submit to. What if I let grace? What if? I am trying to grasp this concept! What else is better to cling to than grace?
“Where sin abounded, grace has more abounded; and so, just as sin reigned wherever there was death, so grace will reign to bring eternal life thanks to the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
– Romans 5:20-21
What an amazing truth Paul proclaims! Sin is out there! Come all drug addicts, prostitutes, thieves, murderers, men, women, and children because your sin, yes YOUR sin pales in comparison to the grace that God has for you! You know that sin will lead to your death but this amazing wondrous grace will reign over sin and bring you eternal life. This eternal live is only due to that grace of the cross where Jesus Christ died for your sins. Now get up and live life knowing that you are not tied down to sin. The faithful freedom of grace exists for you. So let grace!
This is an early post in to grace and as I journey in my understanding about what grace is I’ll post more. Watch for grace 1.0 in the near future.
