Category Archives: Grace

Grace Ain’t Easy

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“One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.” (Proverbs 29:23, ESV)

Grace isn’t easy. It sounds easy, but it isn’t. It requires something of me that I am normally unwilling to give. It requires I give up on myself. It requires I look myself squarely in the face and admit that I will not pull myself up by my bootstraps. I won’t be master of my destiny. It requires I acknowledge openly and honestly that I am a bum.

Some time ago, I sat on our back porch and had a long talk with man struggling to raise his two children alone. He was angry. Angry with God, with Christians, and with the church. He was looking for the comfort of a woman, and a stout paycheck. He figured this was all he needed, and everything would be OK. If he could just work out those two details, he could fix his life.

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2, ESV) Continue reading →

The Outrageous Gospel (a repost of a repost from The Internet Monk)

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Below is an excerpt from a sermon by Michael Spencer reposted on the Internet Monk yesterday. Even though he is almost 3 years deceased, Michael is still one of my favorite bloggers.

The sermon starts with a quote from atheist Sam Harris, and goes on to explain just how Harris is on to something when he says Christian belief is outrageous. We need to regain some of that outrage.

There is, in fact, no worldview more reprehensible in its arrogance than that of a religious believer: the creator of the universe takes an interest in me, approves of me, loves me, and will reward me after death; my current beliefs, drawn from scripture, will remain the best statement of the truth until the end of the world; everyone who disagrees with me will spend an eternity in hell. An average Christian, in an average church, listening to an average Sunday sermon has achieved a level of arrogance simply unimaginable in scientific discourse — and there have been some extraordinarily arrogant scientists.

- Sam Harris, Letters To A Christian Nation

Part of Michael’s response…

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Dick and Rick Hoyt: Grace In Real Time

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I must’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, but I just today saw this video of Dick and Rick Hoyt. If you haven’t heard, Rick was born with cerebral palsy. He has never walked, much less run, but he and his father run triathlons together. Actually Dick pushes, pulls, and carries Rick to the finish line.

I don’t know if the Hoyts are Christians, but this father and his son exemplify grace to me in a moving way. Touched me in so many ways, as a father, as a son, as a Christian leaning on the Jesus. Continue reading →

We Are Free To Lose

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Two of our three children are playing soccer this Fall. For one of them, it’s been a rough season. She’s not particularly athletic, struggles to play well, and feels as though the other girls on the team are better than her. She desperately wants to belong and be seen as one of the good players.

Like a lot of us, she wants to quit once she senses impending failure and embarrassment. I have to fight the urge to do the same thing. We desperately want to justify ourselves. We want to win. We want to be right. We want others to acknowledge our success.

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No Grace = No Holiness

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This past Sunday morning I was in a class that has been studying Matthew’s gospel for over a year. We were in Matthew 23, looking through the seven woes pronounced against the Pharisees by Jesus. I really enjoy the group, and we almost always have great discussions.

Matthew 23:16–22 (ESV)

16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.

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Self-Justification or Christ (Some thoughts about abiding)

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I had a cup of coffee a few nights ago with friend of mine, and we talked about all sorts of topics of interest to us. In the course of the conversation one of us brought up the topic of how we’ve changed as we’ve gotten older and how we regret some of the things we said and did when we were younger.

I have some of those same regrets. I’ve said and done some really hurtful things I wish I could take back. Of course, we can sometimes make amends, and sometimes we can’t.

Sometimes, we remember a situation and our behavior in a certain way, thinking we were acting much worse than we were actually perceived by others. A friend once told me that she had been carrying some guilt around for a couple of years because of how she had treated a certain friend at one of their last encounters. Years later, when she saw that friend again, she immediately apologized, only to be answered with a chuckle. Her friend had absolutely no recollection of the event in question, and reassured my friend that all was well. Life is like that isn’t it? We remember things in a certain way, but those memories aren’t consistent with how others view the same situation. Weird. Continue reading →

How ‘Bout Another Cheeseburger

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Psalm 32:1–5 (ESV)

1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Once upon a time, just a few years ago, I weighed about 315 lbs. I didn’t always weigh that much, but age and bad habits had caught up with me. I’ve always been above average in size. I played football in high school, really enjoyed it, and showed some promise to play at the college level. The problem was that I played on the offensive line, and only weighed about 230 lbs. My freshman year of college, I was told by my coach to gain 40 lbs or I’d never play. So, a dedicated regimen of boiled eggs, baked potatoes, peanut butter milkshakes, and working out 4 days a week had me bulked up to 270 lbs by the end of that first year. I could eat whatever I wanted, and it really didn’t matter. I was working out a lot, was getting pretty strong, and was still in decent shape. The problem showed up when my playing days were over. I kept eating, but stopped working out. Before long 270 turned into 285, and 285 became 300, and 300 became 315.

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Dead and Abiding

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Romans 6:8–14 (NET)

6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 6:9 We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he is never going to die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 6:10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. 6:11 So you too consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, 6:13 and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. 6:14 For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

I’ve been giving some thought lately about two different concepts for the Christian life: abiding in Christ, and considering ourselves dead to sin. What do these mean, how are they related, and what do they look like in life? As I read this passage in Romans, I can’t help but think about my sin. I think about the sin I both hate and love, and to that which I want to die. But how do I die, and conversely, how do I abide in Christ? Continue reading →

From Derision to Compassion: The Death of Junior Seau | Mockingbird

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This is a really nice piece from Mockingbird about grace, and the reality that we are all broken.

Click the link below to read the story.

From Derision to Compassion: The Death of Junior Seau | Mockingbird.

God Is Not Mrs. Jackson

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Psalm 103:7–18 (NIV84)

7He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:8The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.9He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;10he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;12as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.13As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;14for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.15As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field;16the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.17But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—18with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

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