I Must Confess That I Am Often Less Than Graceful...

One of the difficulties that many experience with living a grace filled life, is that we are naturally predisposed to believing that the Gospels are about other people’s problems and sins (or the entirety of the Scriptures for some).  We cheer when Jesus tells a crowd of men who want to stone an adulterous woman, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” as if we are not constantly trying to throw stones ourselves.  When we read scripture, we always think of someone else who needs to hear these things.  But the gift given in God’s revealed presence through the word was meant to be a letter to us… not just the “corporate” us, but the individual who is a part of the body. 

Beyond that, it is meant to be a help.  The passages contained within the Bible are a help to become transformed from the broken, inglorious people we are into the magnificent beings that God sees us to be… the beings that we were created to be.  We, who have the Imago Dei woven into our very DNA, are challenged by that presence to rise above our baseness, and to help others to do the same.  But that is all too often forgotten as we try to use verses to prove our “rightness”.  To live with grace is to realize that we need to experience the love and forgiveness of Christ daily… that we can hear the voice of God speak into our own lives daily… and to know that when that voice corrects it is not condemnation, but love, that seeks to move us to be, think, achieve, do, and love, better and more fully.  As Jesus was left alone with this woman whom they both knew was guilty, He gives forgiveness and this directive, “Go and sin no more.”

I have to confess that I have too often read this particular passage and thought, “Well I know I’m not like the men in the crowd.”  But I’ve never admitted that I might be like this adulterous woman either.  It was about “other people” and not me.  But I fail to be faithful to my commitment to Jesus daily in so many ways.  I cheat on Him with each “holier than thou” thought I have about others.  I prostitute myself every time I crave the acceptance of people around me, or worse, my own comfort and gain, more than I crave His loving admonition and guidance.  I am adulterous when I try to convince myself that I am without sin, because in that thought I’m having a love affair with myself.  I am an adulterous wife... no two ways about it.  And yet what He says to me through His word, and His sacrifice is "You're forgiven.  Go and sin no more."  Moreover, it is not a message just for me, but for all who hear the Gospel news of Jesus.

This realization is the beginning of living a grace filled life… for I can only live what I have learned through experience.  I cannot share love unless I have known it.  I cannot give forgiveness, unless I have received it.  In short, I cannot do any of these things unless I have truly experienced them through the gifting of God.  You can’t be graceful unless you’ve been shown how to be.  That begins with the realization that in order to “go and sin no more”, we have to admit that we sinned in the first place and repent.  Difficult?  Definitely.  Impossible? Not with Jesus’ help.    

Your servant in Christ,

Chris

Is the Bible Really Necessary?

I recently had the opportunity to have a discussion with a United Methodist minister in the form of missives left on a comment board of a blog.  The nature of the story we were engaged in this cyber interaction over is something that I choose not to share because I found it to be secondary to a larger issue that this Elder in full connection brought to the fore in his editorial.  That is the issue of Biblical “essentialness”.  This obviously intelligent, well-educated man, who seems to be earnest in his assertions, said something that had me wondering if some in our denomination are in danger of becoming Gnostics.  (Or maybe my fear is that some already are…) 

I will not share his name as I only want to discuss the merits of his arguments and not level personal attacks or “call him out”.  This is an excerpt from his initial post… I will admit that it is not the entire comment because, again, I do not want to focus on anything but the specific issue raised in this statement by Rev. A.  (His other stances on other issues are for separate discussion later.)

The Bible isn't just about love...

I was asked yesterday by someone who follows my FB posts:

"How come you never post anything about the reality of sin?  If you're going to talk about Jesus, you have to present the whole truth of God, and that includes sin and the need for repentance.  It seems that all you talk about is the "loving" Jesus, not the judgment that He told us would happen."

I have to confess that I may be guilty of that (though I know that I have addressed issues dealing with sin before, just not a specific sin)... but I have long felt that I am called to preach, not against anything, but rather FOR God's loving invitation in everything to be saved from whatever threatens to drown us (and that list is large).  Repentance that results in a life that is transformed into something that is not a burden, but rather a buoy that others can grab hold of is ultimately, I think, a more effective witness than a host of lists of what others are doing wrong.

Most people already know the actions in our lives that are damaging, even if we're able to rationalize certain behaviors, or try to deny that they are damaging.  (Often, though not always, those who shout the loudest in opposition to others' judgment of their behaviors, are engaging in self- evaluation on some level even as they do so.  Or maybe to put it more scripturally, the Holy Spirit is wrestling with them.)  What some may not know though,  is that there is an alternative to the dissatisfaction and pain that always seems present in those destructive behaviors... that there is love available that is unconditional and unfailing and transformational.