I’m still reading that Joseph Prince’s book. It’s full of good stuff… and stuff that I question. I think I am pretty good at throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Maybe that’s an old saying ey? It means that I throw out the whole message because there is something in it that I disagree with. That’s sad. I wonder if that comes from damage (listening) hmmm there is something hurtful to someone who is truth based when you tell, or imply that the teacher is always right. That doesn’t give permission to say that a good teacher can be wrong sometimes. Or that you can think for yourself, go over the message and dig out the nuggets without swallowing the whole pan full.
Back to the book, and still thinking of sin and grace. Joseph talks about being sin- conscious vs. forgiveness- conscious. He says many Christians are living out their lives sin-conscience… In other words we are still walking around fully aware of, and brutalized by, our inadequacies. It’s almost like we have built our faith around our inadequacies instead of the antidote. That puts words to things I have been trying a long time to put words to. He says further that being sin- conscious sends down a vicious root of condemnation in our lives out of which we can not thrive as believers. I totally get that.
The cure, the antidote is understanding our rescue. In every way we are inadequate Jesus intervened. In every way that we missed the mark, Jesus won the prize and then gave it to us. In Jesus, there is no missing the mark… period. If we get that, really get that? Then we can walk around forgiveness-conscious. Thinking not of how we don’t measure up but of why we do! That is what the word grace means to me… it’s like pushing the back of my kid’s bicycle so that they can ride it without falling. They are riding the bicycle they are being successful I am giving that success to them and having a ball in the process! I see Jesus in that light. He delights in keeping us upright while we flounder in the right direction. :)
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