Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
The author of this beloved hymn knew the grace that he was praising. He had indeed been a "wretch" until the Lord had, in his words, "...come from on high and delivered me out of deep waters". He later became one of England's most evangelical preachers and hymn writers. A life changed...truly that is "amazing grace".
In the doctor's office the other day, I noticed a magazine cover that was reporting on "The Life of the Amazing Joan Rivers". With all due respect to a popular comedian, her public face...in my opinion...was anything but amazing. Maybe she was considered funny...I found her to be rude and cruel.
Here is a better description of amazing. Max Lucado in THE GRIP OF GRACE tells a story of a young monk with a troubled soul. An older monk came alongside him and said:
We'll enter the abbey together and together we'll confess your sin.
No one but God will know which of the two of us fell.
That's amazing; that our Lord would pay the price of our sin that we might stand before our God blameless and clean. He offers it to us free...generously...without limitation. Why are we so stingy with the grace we extend to others? Why do we honk when someone cuts in front of us on the highway? Why do we come back with sassy one-liners when someone criticizes us? Why do we teach our children to not let anyone cut in front of you? By the way, that is the enemy who would keep us so rigid that we can't see beyond what we want rather than what we could give.
If the grace we receive is so amazing - and it is - then surely we can be more amazing (by His Spirit!) about the grace we extend. Our world is waiting and watching to see if we will.
For further study: Numbers 6:25, Pr. 21:26, Isaiah 30:18, Matthew 10:8, Luke 6:38, John 1:17, Acts 20:35, 2 Cor. 6:1, Galatians 2:21, Hebrews 12:15
Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.
Love,
Holly
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