My Favourite Word
Grace
We need more of it. Or rather we need to allow the Grace on offer from God to soak deep into our bones, our hearts, our lives.
I always said that if we had children I wanted to call one Grace. I like the tradition of calling Children after virtues or Saints of the Church. In the end Katherine (meaning pure) got Grace as a middle name, not quite sure how that happened but giving her a very Irish name didn't fit so well with my wife, so Katherine it is.
But Grace is a wonderful word. It is the reason I do all of this Christianity stuff, it's the lifeblood of faith, coming straight from God, through his Holy Spirit and due to the life and work of Jesus. Grace upon grace, that's the promise of the Bible.
Grace is our reason for forgiveness, our inspiration for faith, our foundation for love. People who are grace-filled shine with the light and life of Christ. I long to be someone through whom grace may abound.
I've been reading Miroslav Volf's book 'Free of Charge' - subtitled 'giving and forgiving in a culture stripped of Grace'. It is inspiring, heart wrenching and even tear-jerking. It is uplifting and beautiful (and there aren't many theological books I would use those adjectives for). Simple in style, but filled with meaning and depth it's a non-weighty book that deals with weighty concepts. By which I mean it isn't veiled in theological language, but deals with the most profound theological thoughts in an accessible and profoundly affecting way.
It's not the only reason why Grace is on my mind at the moment, but it has been and is a great reminder of all that Grace should mean to the Church and to all who follow Christ.
Michael W Smith's latest, which is a few months old now, arrived through my postbox this morning, and it follows the same theme. He writes 'As individual songs started coming together, I became aware of a consistent message. STAND became a collection of songs about Hope, Forgiveness and God's amazing Grace. STAND isn't so much a 'call to action' as it is a 'call to respond'. As we daily understand more about His immeasurable love for us - we stand in awe of the one who gave it all.'
I'm listening to it now, good album!
We need more of it. Or rather we need to allow the Grace on offer from God to soak deep into our bones, our hearts, our lives.
I always said that if we had children I wanted to call one Grace. I like the tradition of calling Children after virtues or Saints of the Church. In the end Katherine (meaning pure) got Grace as a middle name, not quite sure how that happened but giving her a very Irish name didn't fit so well with my wife, so Katherine it is.
But Grace is a wonderful word. It is the reason I do all of this Christianity stuff, it's the lifeblood of faith, coming straight from God, through his Holy Spirit and due to the life and work of Jesus. Grace upon grace, that's the promise of the Bible.
Grace is our reason for forgiveness, our inspiration for faith, our foundation for love. People who are grace-filled shine with the light and life of Christ. I long to be someone through whom grace may abound.
I've been reading Miroslav Volf's book 'Free of Charge' - subtitled 'giving and forgiving in a culture stripped of Grace'. It is inspiring, heart wrenching and even tear-jerking. It is uplifting and beautiful (and there aren't many theological books I would use those adjectives for). Simple in style, but filled with meaning and depth it's a non-weighty book that deals with weighty concepts. By which I mean it isn't veiled in theological language, but deals with the most profound theological thoughts in an accessible and profoundly affecting way.
It's not the only reason why Grace is on my mind at the moment, but it has been and is a great reminder of all that Grace should mean to the Church and to all who follow Christ.
Michael W Smith's latest, which is a few months old now, arrived through my postbox this morning, and it follows the same theme. He writes 'As individual songs started coming together, I became aware of a consistent message. STAND became a collection of songs about Hope, Forgiveness and God's amazing Grace. STAND isn't so much a 'call to action' as it is a 'call to respond'. As we daily understand more about His immeasurable love for us - we stand in awe of the one who gave it all.'
I'm listening to it now, good album!
Comments
Chris (My Blog)
I have several things to say.
1. I don't believe you.
2. Awww, we both have daughters named Grace though ours is called Grace and yours is not.
3. I made porridge for my children the other morning.
4. Despite recently taking a class on The Way Of Grace, and despite the fact that it seems like a relatively easy concept to grasp, I still struggle with it. It's too easy. There's got to be more to it that I'm not understanding. I have this desire to be legalistic and reach goals by deeds, and I feel guilty that I don't try harder. I feel like not striving to be the best person means I'm taking advantage of God's grace. And I guess I am. I'm guilt-filled. Also, not an emotion of God. Bleck.
5. As always, I'm loving your funny comments over at my place. Thank you! I think it was this morning that you made me laugh...or was it yesterday? Anyway, it was at a time that I was very far away from a smile, so thank you!