Grace is...

'A gift that costs everything for the giver and nothing for the recipient'

'Does not depend on what we have done for God but rather what God has done for us'

'A humble awareness that God has already forgiven us a debt so mountainous that besides it any persons' wrongs against us shrink to the size of anthills'

'God loves people because of who God is, not because of who we are'

'There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less'

These are quotes from Phillip Yancey's book 'What's So Amazing About Grace?' that struck me as interesting and challenging. As a new believer I have accepted that Jesus died for me and in doing so allowed me to be saved from my own sinfulness - to be given a chance, where I didn't deserve it. However, these quotes are quite stark in their urge that now that we have accepted that fact, we have to act upon it. As Jesus illustrated in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matt 18:23-35), one of the things God calls us to do is to extend the gift of Grace He has given us to others, we are not perfect and so cannot expect perfection from others who are the same as us, even of they have committed acts and sins that we would never consider doing.
This makes me feel both hopeful and anxious. Hopeful because it means that there is a way that humanity can mend itself from the violence and selfishness that is so often displayed throughout the world and in our own lives. It also means that there is a chance that I can recover my heart and soul from the stone of hatred and fear that it is currently behind. However, it makes me anxious because these quotes remind me how little progress I have made in this area. I am thankful for what God has done for me but i'm not sure how, or if I even want, to extend that to others. Yet I know that I cannot have all that God has promised if I do not................

Grace=Forgiveness - an awesome yet entirely strange concept

The whole idea of God's Grace is a strange one. Grace states that we are all sinful and yet God will forgive us if we ask - even though we do not deserve it. It follows then that if God forgives us then we have very little right not to forgive others - passing the judgement and the weight to God; the ultimate judge.
This is the sort of thing I have read about in textbooks for years - I even teach about it(!!) sometimes and yet I have never really, truely understood it. It took some time and many an analogy from my Pastor to get it but when I did it was a PHYSICAL feeling of recognition. No so much a EUREKA! moment but a realisation of the weight that I am carrying on my back through my unforgiveness. I feel like the person I have not forgiven is still there clinging on to my back, through everything that I do I am carrying the hatred and it's suffocating me.
The idea that I can get rid of that makes me feel lighter and happier than I thought possible - but it is only a fleeting feeling - something I can't grab. As Michael Jackson once wrote in his song 'Gone too Soon' it's like 'a castle built upon a sandy beach...here one day, gone one night'.
So i guess that this is a glimpse of the feeling that all these people at Church are harping on about. I guess this is the feeling of the Holy Spirit at work in my heart.
So here's the clincher...I figure that in order to live in this light - in God's light then I must have to do something positive, CHOOSE to forgive and actively pray for His help everyday because I'm not sure that all of e wants to forgive. I've got to invite God into my life...and actually let Him take the wheel................Cue feelings of fear and joy. A strange feeling