That it is free is what makes it all at once so captivating, so welcome, so secure, so relieving, so awesome, so different, so humbling, and, yes, even a bit scary in its being wholly and totally un-earned – human beings aren’t accustomed to such.
Which is a point of interest as it’s what humanity most needs, what you most need, what I most need, and humanity’s Creator, your Creator, my Creator, is most desiring to have received by them, by you, by me.
Now, are we going to take Him up on the offer – and then “pay it forward”?
I mean, if we were created “in the image of God” who freely gives grace, then is not freely giving grace to each other a thing which we were created to do?
Which somehow brings to mind the four previous llustrations.
not to mention the fact that being the mistrusting “nothing is free” society that we are, Grace being free makes it that much harder to accept most times. Leaving a lot of people with the mentality they still have to try to earn it.
I have learned so much about grace lately. God has opened up a door that should have been closed because of a mistake that I made, a silly little mistake. I want to learn how to give it to others the way that God has given it to me. I know I’ll mess up, but it’s definitely worth the try. Thanks.
Comment by Jessica Denise — April 18, 2008 @ 3:46 am
the price it cost God for us to have grace is pretty intense. which is why God’s grace is so absolutely amazing
YOU know when you have one of those moments and your like WOW! I don’t think I have ever thought of GRACE as being something I give before!? So thanks to number 1 FSwood.
I understand I have probably done it but ITS just dawned on me, now I have a focus for the day, YES.
“Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition”
Good one, shows some hope, especially after the very satirical cartoons in the last days.
I love the word Grace. The arrangement of the letters, the vowel sound, an image of perfect motion (dancer, acrobat, gymnast), a girl’s name (I’ve yet to meet a girl with this name who hasn’t somehow lived up to it). It’s right up there with sublime, transcendent. Almost defying explanation.
I believe in God’s grace (boy have I needed some recently) but I do wonder how many people in the world don’t feel particularly favoured by God right now :/
ben… interesting point. to be gracious can be very costly, i wonder if that is why it can be a rarer commodity than it should be. being given grace is the free bit.
Don’t forget Bonhoeffer’s famous ‘cheap vs. costly grace’ idea. It’s in the beginning of his Discipleship.
Grace is free but is also costly, not only to Jesus, as someone’s already said, but to us if it resources our Christian life and calls us on to sacrificial living – something Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew a thing or two about going against the stream of Nazism in Germany!
Jon, you’ve been laying some pretty heavy stuff on us the past few days – I’m not saying that is bad, on the contrary, it’s stuff that needs airing now and again. But it is also pretty draining. When I looked at today’s it was like immersing myself in a soothing, hot, fragrant bath. God is soooo good! I think I’ll just rest in this tranquil blue colour a little while and wash away the cares of the last week…well go on, hop it, close the door, can’t a woman get some privacy round here?…
Thanks babe – what with feeling sick so much at the moment its bliss to have the wireless connection in the house and my new mac – music and asbojesus in bed – what more could a girl ask for??
Grace – don’t you love it!! A new moral landscape…. “Why would God choose Jacob the conniver over dutiful Esau? Why confer supernatural powers of strength on a Mozartian delinquent named Samson? Why groom a runty shepherd boy, David, to be Israel’s king? And why bestow a sublime gift of wisdom on Solomon, the fruit of that king’s adulterous liaison? Indeed, in each of these Old Testament stories the scandal of grace rumbles under the surface until finally, in Jesus’ parables, it bursts forth in a dramatic upheaval to reshape the moral landscape” Philip Yancey ‘What’s so amazing about grace?’
What a perfrect refreshing after self-harm! Thanks Jon, this very timely reminder has given me the guts to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.
Dave, thanks. I first got a handle on the notion of grace through Philip Yancey’s book. It’s the only Christian book (apart from the Bible) that I have given as a gift to people – several. I love this book. Your comment also provides an opportunity to plug Greenbelt – Yancey is a speaker there this year. I can’t wait. I’d like to go and give the guy a kiss, but I wouldn’t want to embarrass him (to tell the truth, it would embarrass me too, unless of course I’d been to the Organic Beer Tent first!)
I may be speaking at GB too Carole – will meet you in the organic beer tent!! However – will bring my wife too!! Have you looked at Velvet Elvis and other Rob Bell books – these are only other Christian books I pass on! dave
Look forward to it Dave – don’t fret, I will be bringing my husband too so I’ll be on my best behaviour!
I haven’t read Velvet Elvis, but it gets lots of mentions here and there so I will, no doubt, have to act upon your recommendation. I really like the Nooma DVDs. I folleowed a link from someone’s blog (forget who) to the ‘Bullhorn guy’ video that had been posted on youtube (bit naughty, copyright and all that). They’d also linked to a video that gave an opposing view to Bell. It parodied the style of ‘bullhorn guy’. I gather Bell has a fair few opponents but he seems pretty sound to me, from what I know.
That it is free is what makes it all at once so captivating, so welcome, so secure, so relieving, so awesome, so different, so humbling, and, yes, even a bit scary in its being wholly and totally un-earned – human beings aren’t accustomed to such.
Which is a point of interest as it’s what humanity most needs, what you most need, what I most need, and humanity’s Creator, your Creator, my Creator, is most desiring to have received by them, by you, by me.
Now, are we going to take Him up on the offer – and then “pay it forward”?
I mean, if we were created “in the image of God” who freely gives grace, then is not freely giving grace to each other a thing which we were created to do?
Which somehow brings to mind the four previous llustrations.
Comment by FSWood — April 18, 2008 @ 1:02 am
not to mention the fact that being the mistrusting “nothing is free” society that we are, Grace being free makes it that much harder to accept most times. Leaving a lot of people with the mentality they still have to try to earn it.
Comment by john Q — April 18, 2008 @ 1:19 am
my heart took one look at that and simply breathed, “Thank You, Jesus.”
thanks for the reminder, Jon.
Comment by Happy — April 18, 2008 @ 2:00 am
Don’t forget to read the small prints.
Comment by Elyong — April 18, 2008 @ 3:24 am
I have learned so much about grace lately. God has opened up a door that should have been closed because of a mistake that I made, a silly little mistake. I want to learn how to give it to others the way that God has given it to me. I know I’ll mess up, but it’s definitely worth the try. Thanks.
Comment by Jessica Denise — April 18, 2008 @ 3:46 am
the price it cost God for us to have grace is pretty intense. which is why God’s grace is so absolutely amazing
Comment by ben — April 18, 2008 @ 4:16 am
This made me smile.
Comment by Tamara — April 18, 2008 @ 5:01 am
Amen!
Free to me, of course. Not free for Jesus.
Comment by Richard — April 18, 2008 @ 6:47 am
great posting, particularly after the last 2. To learn the “unforced rhythms of grace” is my hope.
Comment by soniamain — April 18, 2008 @ 7:07 am
YOU know when you have one of those moments and your like WOW! I don’t think I have ever thought of GRACE as being something I give before!? So thanks to number 1 FSwood.
I understand I have probably done it but ITS just dawned on me, now I have a focus for the day, YES.
Go forth & Grace.
Comment by dennis coburn — April 18, 2008 @ 7:20 am
Thank god!
Comment by slowburn — April 18, 2008 @ 8:04 am
…she served 1972 years for corruption but has been released on parole with a community service order.
Comment by Robb — April 18, 2008 @ 8:06 am
“Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition”
Good one, shows some hope, especially after the very satirical cartoons in the last days.
Comment by Maggi — April 18, 2008 @ 8:44 am
I love the word Grace. The arrangement of the letters, the vowel sound, an image of perfect motion (dancer, acrobat, gymnast), a girl’s name (I’ve yet to meet a girl with this name who hasn’t somehow lived up to it). It’s right up there with sublime, transcendent. Almost defying explanation.
I believe in God’s grace (boy have I needed some recently) but I do wonder how many people in the world don’t feel particularly favoured by God right now :/
Comment by Joe — April 18, 2008 @ 9:13 am
Comment by Caz — April 18, 2008 @ 9:21 am
fswood… ‘pay it forward’… i like it.
i just thought we could all do with a bit of unadulterated hope about the place.
Comment by jonbirch — April 18, 2008 @ 10:25 am
yeah agreed richard. theres always the other side of grace, the sacrifice in order for someone to receive it.
Comment by ben — April 18, 2008 @ 10:26 am
so from what richard said, is grace really free?
Comment by ben — April 18, 2008 @ 10:29 am
You’d think, seeing as how it’s free, there’d be so much more sloshing around, no?
How can it be that those who follow this Gracious and grace giving One have managed to get such a grace-less reputation?
Grace and peace, as ever
Jonathan
Comment by Jonathan S — April 18, 2008 @ 10:38 am
jonathan… that’s a good question.
ben… interesting point. to be gracious can be very costly, i wonder if that is why it can be a rarer commodity than it should be. being given grace is the free bit.
Comment by jonbirch — April 18, 2008 @ 10:48 am
Don’t forget Bonhoeffer’s famous ‘cheap vs. costly grace’ idea. It’s in the beginning of his Discipleship.
Grace is free but is also costly, not only to Jesus, as someone’s already said, but to us if it resources our Christian life and calls us on to sacrificial living – something Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew a thing or two about going against the stream of Nazism in Germany!
Comment by tom — April 18, 2008 @ 11:14 am
Jon, you’ve been laying some pretty heavy stuff on us the past few days – I’m not saying that is bad, on the contrary, it’s stuff that needs airing now and again. But it is also pretty draining. When I looked at today’s it was like immersing myself in a soothing, hot, fragrant bath. God is soooo good! I think I’ll just rest in this tranquil blue colour a little while and wash away the cares of the last week…well go on, hop it, close the door, can’t a woman get some privacy round here?…
Comment by Carole — April 18, 2008 @ 2:00 pm
Ahhhh – my current favourite word. Beautiful. And now I shall go search out the U2 album……xx
Comment by dadube — April 18, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
i presume you’re out of the bath now carole… what with it being 4pm!
you’re right, i thought some air in the sails might be welcome.
enjoy the album dadube.
Comment by jonbirch — April 18, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
Thanks babe – what with feeling sick so much at the moment its bliss to have the wireless connection in the house and my new mac – music and asbojesus in bed – what more could a girl ask for??
Comment by dadube — April 18, 2008 @ 5:11 pm
Grace – don’t you love it!! A new moral landscape…. “Why would God choose Jacob the conniver over dutiful Esau? Why confer supernatural powers of strength on a Mozartian delinquent named Samson? Why groom a runty shepherd boy, David, to be Israel’s king? And why bestow a sublime gift of wisdom on Solomon, the fruit of that king’s adulterous liaison? Indeed, in each of these Old Testament stories the scandal of grace rumbles under the surface until finally, in Jesus’ parables, it bursts forth in a dramatic upheaval to reshape the moral landscape” Philip Yancey ‘What’s so amazing about grace?’
Comment by Dave — April 18, 2008 @ 6:05 pm
stunning.
Comment by jonbirch — April 18, 2008 @ 10:47 pm
Thanks for that great reminder! Eph 2:8-9! AMAN!
Comment by Rick — April 19, 2008 @ 4:14 am
What a perfrect refreshing after self-harm! Thanks Jon, this very timely reminder has given me the guts to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.
Comment by botticelliwoman — April 19, 2008 @ 10:56 am
Dave, thanks. I first got a handle on the notion of grace through Philip Yancey’s book. It’s the only Christian book (apart from the Bible) that I have given as a gift to people – several. I love this book. Your comment also provides an opportunity to plug Greenbelt – Yancey is a speaker there this year. I can’t wait. I’d like to go and give the guy a kiss, but I wouldn’t want to embarrass him (to tell the truth, it would embarrass me too, unless of course I’d been to the Organic Beer Tent first!)
Comment by Carole — April 19, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
I may be speaking at GB too Carole – will meet you in the organic beer tent!! However – will bring my wife too!! Have you looked at Velvet Elvis and other Rob Bell books – these are only other Christian books I pass on! dave
Comment by Dave — April 19, 2008 @ 1:20 pm
Look forward to it Dave – don’t fret, I will be bringing my husband too so I’ll be on my best behaviour!
I haven’t read Velvet Elvis, but it gets lots of mentions here and there so I will, no doubt, have to act upon your recommendation. I really like the Nooma DVDs. I folleowed a link from someone’s blog (forget who) to the ‘Bullhorn guy’ video that had been posted on youtube (bit naughty, copyright and all that). They’d also linked to a video that gave an opposing view to Bell. It parodied the style of ‘bullhorn guy’. I gather Bell has a fair few opponents but he seems pretty sound to me, from what I know.
Comment by Carole — April 19, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
phew Carole! hope you enjoy Bell – dave
Comment by Dave — April 19, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
@ jon (#16) – “unadulterated hope…”
nice expression – and even nicer sentiment.
Comment by Happy — April 22, 2008 @ 4:54 am
thanks happy!
Comment by jonbirch — April 26, 2008 @ 12:00 am