I know this one will probably offend someone...Sorry in advance but like you are entitled to your feelings and beliefs I also have mine. Here is your chance to navigate to a different web page....
So you are still here, don't say I didn;'t give ya chance to go.
I am struggling with the concept of grace lately. The definition of grace is "unmerited favor given by God" Ok...so let break that down a bit.
Unmerited something we do not deserve, it is not given by merit. Fairly straight forward.
Favor a gift, overgenerous preferential treatment, an attitude of aproval or liking. God gave us favor. I can't count how many times in the bible and in the time since that God has shown his children favor. Delivering the Isrealites from Egypt, allowing His Son to die for our sins. Need I say more?
Given by God it comes from God.
I don't belive that I can give grace to a person. But that is subject to my interpretation of the word. I believe that I can still love a person even though I do not agree with their choices. I believe that part of loving them is letting them know that what they are doing is sin. I don't think that doing that is judgment. I don't think that when I stand firm in my beliefs that I am condeming anyone. I have a responsibility to show my kids what is right and wrong and that it is a fine line to traverse between showing love and condoning sin. The line is finer still when small eyes are watching and learning by my example.
Grace is not license to sin. God is not going to say "oh dear. John is sinning again and sleeping with his friends wife. Well, can't do anything about that because he is to be given grace" God might give you a slip up or two. He might see how you respond to his corrections but he isn't going to sit back and let you sin with out giving you a swift kick eventually.
And don't we justify our sins so creatively? We pretend that the sin is what God wants for us or how He created us. If that's the case then I am just big boned!
My favorite one is God wants me to be happy. Yes! Yes he does. BUT if you have to sin to be happy then there is a problem. I've said it before and I will say it again. My God is big enough to fix the problem and have you happy at the same time. If your sin is making you happy I am pretty sure it ain't gonna be for long. He might ask you to do some work to get you back to happy in your situation but I can promise you that if you continue to refuse Him and what he wants from you, you will soon find out what the belly of a whale smells like (metaphorically speaking).
I am certain that I have more to learn about grace, academically and practically, and I may change my view somewhat at some point, but this is where I am at right now. So in the words of the great philosopher, Forest Gump "that's all I got to say about that"
It is hard and very unnatural to watch a train wreck isn't it? But when a train is on a collision course, there isn't much we can do to stop the speeding train. Only the speeding train can stop the speeding train. It has to apply the brakes. Anything we do will only hurt ourselves. We can will it to stop = disappointment, helplessness, headache. We can physically try to stop it = flattened. We can try to alert it = feeling unheard. All of it can leave the watcher feeling helpless while seeing the train press on to a certain catastrophic end.
ReplyDeleteBut that is what you must do. Your lines are quite transparent here and it is easy to read between them. We all have moments in life where we learn that it is really easy to become disillusioned and then deluded by something that looks wrong, but feels right.
Grace is very much about letting go. Yielding to the reality that only God is in control. Listen attentively. Try to love unconditionally. And try to be more patient.
Always the student, novemberjuliet *hugs*