Reason #366
When I was a senior in high school, the emo/punk style was trendy. Converse tennis shoes were the thing to wear along with cotton t-shirts that had quirky sayings on the front. And just to make the style a little more "individualistic," we topped off the look by wearing long sleeved, patterned t-shirts underneath. Of course, ripped jeans really helped perfect the look. This style did not suit me well. I've come to notice that I have a hard time pulling off any type of "trend." It's just better for me to stick with norm. Relient K was a Christian boyband that kept with the emo/punk vibe. I listened to their CD over and over and over my senior year. They had really great messages to their songs, but there is one in particular that I still remember. The song talked about escaping from ourselves, doubt, insecurities, and the ways of the world. The one line that stuck out to me said, "The beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair..."
Grace. I've learned a lot about grace this year, and just when I think I've learned it all, I learn that there's more to learn. A man came to speak to our small groups at church this morning. He is a chaplain at the prison, and after hearing him speak I thought there could not be a better person for the job. He fit the role perfectly. This man had been there himself. Still very young, so it hasn't probably been too many years since he has escaped from that life. But rather than turning and running from it once his freedom was granted, he went back to rescue others. He went back to tell them about this grace and the whole beauty of it. Because here's the truth, life's not fair. Life is hard. And when you look at one situation through multiple different perspectives, I can guarantee that there will always be one who will feel it is unfair. But that's the thing about grace, it's never really fair.
Grace can only be granted when there is a wrong-doing. Something completely unfair happened and so we feel they should get theirs, right? Pay back a wrong for a wrong. What comes around goes around. We're a people who love justice when it isn't being served to us personally. We want things to be settled, and by that I mean we want to get even. An eye for an eye. And maybe it's not even something that was directly done to us, however, we look at a situation that seems unfair by our standards and it just makes our blood boil. So we wish negative things to happen. We secretly hope something goes wrong. And isn't it unfortunate that we only want second chances an extra allowances for ourselves?
But as this man spoke today, my heart was overjoyed at the grace that he found. I was also grateful that he was given another chance, a new chance, at life. And here's the thing, he may have spent time in jail, he may have broke the law and intentionally hurt others along the way, but He deserved God's grace as much as the next peson. And maybe it's easy for me to say that because I have no clue about his past. All I know is where He is now. But really, that's what matters. Because if we're playing by our rules and deciding what's fair, we're in trouble. Thankfully, we serve a God who forgets our pasts and is way more concerned about where we are now and where we are headed. Thankfully, we serve a God who practices grace with each one of us every time. Sure, He is just and His justice is practiced, too. But if we want to be fair, and we want to be treated fairly, maybe we just need to practice grace first and foremost and leave the justice part up to God.
So here's what I've learned about grace. Grace is easy to talk about and it is a lovely concept, but true grace is easier to practice when you've been granted it. Grace makes more sense when you've received it. Trust me on this one. Because grace looks at you and it says, "Hey, you don't deserve a second chance. You messed up. You're not worthy of good things, but I don't care about what happened back then, I care about the present. So, because of that you're getting another chance at this. Here is your second shot." And this should bring an overwhelming joy to our lives. This should bring a huge smile to our face. We should be happy for one another when grace is practice, and we should be mindful to extend it to others as it has been given freely to us.
Oh, grace. It is beautfiul and it does make life unfair. We can look at it from two point of views. We can waste our time keeping a record of wrongs, comparing who did what and how severe that act was. We can grow bitter and jealous from what seems to be "unfair" and let it keep us from truly understanding the whole concept of grace, or we can just practice it. We can rejoice in the fact that life isn't always fair and we can be happy for one another when grace prevails. We need grace, no doubt. We need it from God first and foremost, but we need it from one another, too. And there will be a day when you need grace. There will come a time when you hope and pray that grace will be extended to you. So make it habit now, let it prevail, and be grateful that we serve a God who gives us more grace than we ever deserve.
#366 - Because of the beauty of grace and new life.
"So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" - 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
Grace. I've learned a lot about grace this year, and just when I think I've learned it all, I learn that there's more to learn. A man came to speak to our small groups at church this morning. He is a chaplain at the prison, and after hearing him speak I thought there could not be a better person for the job. He fit the role perfectly. This man had been there himself. Still very young, so it hasn't probably been too many years since he has escaped from that life. But rather than turning and running from it once his freedom was granted, he went back to rescue others. He went back to tell them about this grace and the whole beauty of it. Because here's the truth, life's not fair. Life is hard. And when you look at one situation through multiple different perspectives, I can guarantee that there will always be one who will feel it is unfair. But that's the thing about grace, it's never really fair.
Grace can only be granted when there is a wrong-doing. Something completely unfair happened and so we feel they should get theirs, right? Pay back a wrong for a wrong. What comes around goes around. We're a people who love justice when it isn't being served to us personally. We want things to be settled, and by that I mean we want to get even. An eye for an eye. And maybe it's not even something that was directly done to us, however, we look at a situation that seems unfair by our standards and it just makes our blood boil. So we wish negative things to happen. We secretly hope something goes wrong. And isn't it unfortunate that we only want second chances an extra allowances for ourselves?
But as this man spoke today, my heart was overjoyed at the grace that he found. I was also grateful that he was given another chance, a new chance, at life. And here's the thing, he may have spent time in jail, he may have broke the law and intentionally hurt others along the way, but He deserved God's grace as much as the next peson. And maybe it's easy for me to say that because I have no clue about his past. All I know is where He is now. But really, that's what matters. Because if we're playing by our rules and deciding what's fair, we're in trouble. Thankfully, we serve a God who forgets our pasts and is way more concerned about where we are now and where we are headed. Thankfully, we serve a God who practices grace with each one of us every time. Sure, He is just and His justice is practiced, too. But if we want to be fair, and we want to be treated fairly, maybe we just need to practice grace first and foremost and leave the justice part up to God.
So here's what I've learned about grace. Grace is easy to talk about and it is a lovely concept, but true grace is easier to practice when you've been granted it. Grace makes more sense when you've received it. Trust me on this one. Because grace looks at you and it says, "Hey, you don't deserve a second chance. You messed up. You're not worthy of good things, but I don't care about what happened back then, I care about the present. So, because of that you're getting another chance at this. Here is your second shot." And this should bring an overwhelming joy to our lives. This should bring a huge smile to our face. We should be happy for one another when grace is practice, and we should be mindful to extend it to others as it has been given freely to us.
Oh, grace. It is beautfiul and it does make life unfair. We can look at it from two point of views. We can waste our time keeping a record of wrongs, comparing who did what and how severe that act was. We can grow bitter and jealous from what seems to be "unfair" and let it keep us from truly understanding the whole concept of grace, or we can just practice it. We can rejoice in the fact that life isn't always fair and we can be happy for one another when grace prevails. We need grace, no doubt. We need it from God first and foremost, but we need it from one another, too. And there will be a day when you need grace. There will come a time when you hope and pray that grace will be extended to you. So make it habit now, let it prevail, and be grateful that we serve a God who gives us more grace than we ever deserve.
#366 - Because of the beauty of grace and new life.
"So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" - 2 Corinthians 5:16-17