The Scandal of Grace (Galatians 2)
Grace, what have you done
Murdered for me on that cross
Accused, in absence of wrong
My sin washed away in your blood
Too much to make sense of it all
I know that your love breaks my fall
The scandal of grace, you died in my place
So my soul will live
Oh, to be like you
Give all I have just to know you
Jesus, there's no one besides you
Forever the hope in my heart.
-Hillsong, "Scandal of Grace"
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see.
-John Newton, "Amazing Grace"
I do not understand the mystery of grace- only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.
-Anne Lamott
Of all the words in the dictionary, I'm pretty sure grace is my favorite. Of all the gifts in all the earth, I'm pretty sure grace is the one I need the most. And of all the concepts in the Bible, grace is the one I often struggle with accepting.
I've heard it said before that justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve, and grace is getting what we do not deserve. Oh, man, is that true. Grace is this idea that because of Jesus's sacrifice, we don't have to earn favor with God. Like the Anne Lamott quote above, grace is the concept that God meets us where we are and loves us--He meets us where we are and loves us so much that he doesn't let us stay there. Grace is God saying He finds us worth attention, no matter how much sin we may have in our lives. Grace is a gift, not a payment. As easy as that is to formulate in my head and type onto a page, it's something I have a much harder time accepting in my heart.
As I studied my way through Galatians 2 this week, I found myself struck by the concept of grace. Throughout this chapter, Paul continues to give a background to his work and the true Gospel, not the false preaching he put down in chapter 1. Similar to other cases throughout the New Testament, one of the issues Paul addresses in Chapter 2 concerns how to incorporate a variety of cultures into the newly founded Christianity--specifically, how Jewish Christians and Gentile (basically, non-Jewish) Christians should conduct themselves. Many people born Jewish assumed their Gentile brothers and sisters should need to follow Jewish customs and subscribe to the law.
Paul doesn't give in to that.
"We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ," he writes. "So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified" (Galatians 2:15-16 NIV).
I think it's easy to get caught up in checklists and forget to actually have faith. So often I think if I just try a little harder to be more perfect, to be more like Christ, to have all my "i"s dotted and "t"s crossed and plans figured out, then God will love me more. Maybe then I'll be worth it. Maybe then, rather than looking at me with disappointment, as I so often imagine He must, He'll see something He likes. I might struggle with wanting to win people's approval, but I struggle just as much with trying to win's God love.
It's futile, though.
It's not futile because I never can, it's futile because I never have to. Neither do you. Christ came down and saved us while we were still sinners, not while we were shiny and perfect. God loves us more than we can imagine, and there's nothing we can do to change that. He'll love us the same if we become the next Mother Teresa or the next... well, something really bad. He doesn't look at me with disappointment, but with love. And I understand that in my head; truly, I do. But the moments when I most need God's grace and forgiveness are the moments when I'm most likely to not accept it. While I try to brush it off like that fact is okay, it's really not.
"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21).
If I could repair my brokenness on my own, if I could right my wrong before God through works, then I wouldn't need Jesus. So all those moments when I have a hard time accepting God's grace, when I think I have to have it all figured out on my own, it's almost like I'm saying Christ's sacrifice wasn't worth it. When I get caught up in needing to be perfect, it's almost like I'm saying, "You know, Jesus, what you did was swell, but it really wasn't good enough. I need to cover this on my own." That's just not true. I never want to belittle what Jesus did like that.
So sometimes, all the time, I just need to give in. It's too much to make sense of it all, but grace and love catches my fall. Grace has taken someone who once was lost and blind and found them, letting them see. I don't understand the mystery, but I'm glad it meets me where I am. Even more, though, I'm glad that it doesn't let me stay there.
Oh, to be like you
Give all I have just to know you
Jesus, there's no one besides you
Forever the hope in my heart.
What do you think of when you hear the word "grace"? Do you think it's something easy to accept or not? Why?
Murdered for me on that cross
Accused, in absence of wrong
My sin washed away in your blood
Too much to make sense of it all
I know that your love breaks my fall
The scandal of grace, you died in my place
So my soul will live
Oh, to be like you
Give all I have just to know you
Jesus, there's no one besides you
Forever the hope in my heart.
-Hillsong, "Scandal of Grace"
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see.
-John Newton, "Amazing Grace"
I do not understand the mystery of grace- only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.
-Anne Lamott
Of all the words in the dictionary, I'm pretty sure grace is my favorite. Of all the gifts in all the earth, I'm pretty sure grace is the one I need the most. And of all the concepts in the Bible, grace is the one I often struggle with accepting.
I've heard it said before that justice is getting what we deserve, mercy is not getting what we deserve, and grace is getting what we do not deserve. Oh, man, is that true. Grace is this idea that because of Jesus's sacrifice, we don't have to earn favor with God. Like the Anne Lamott quote above, grace is the concept that God meets us where we are and loves us--He meets us where we are and loves us so much that he doesn't let us stay there. Grace is God saying He finds us worth attention, no matter how much sin we may have in our lives. Grace is a gift, not a payment. As easy as that is to formulate in my head and type onto a page, it's something I have a much harder time accepting in my heart.
As I studied my way through Galatians 2 this week, I found myself struck by the concept of grace. Throughout this chapter, Paul continues to give a background to his work and the true Gospel, not the false preaching he put down in chapter 1. Similar to other cases throughout the New Testament, one of the issues Paul addresses in Chapter 2 concerns how to incorporate a variety of cultures into the newly founded Christianity--specifically, how Jewish Christians and Gentile (basically, non-Jewish) Christians should conduct themselves. Many people born Jewish assumed their Gentile brothers and sisters should need to follow Jewish customs and subscribe to the law.
Paul doesn't give in to that.
"We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ," he writes. "So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified" (Galatians 2:15-16 NIV).
I think it's easy to get caught up in checklists and forget to actually have faith. So often I think if I just try a little harder to be more perfect, to be more like Christ, to have all my "i"s dotted and "t"s crossed and plans figured out, then God will love me more. Maybe then I'll be worth it. Maybe then, rather than looking at me with disappointment, as I so often imagine He must, He'll see something He likes. I might struggle with wanting to win people's approval, but I struggle just as much with trying to win's God love.
It's futile, though.
It's not futile because I never can, it's futile because I never have to. Neither do you. Christ came down and saved us while we were still sinners, not while we were shiny and perfect. God loves us more than we can imagine, and there's nothing we can do to change that. He'll love us the same if we become the next Mother Teresa or the next... well, something really bad. He doesn't look at me with disappointment, but with love. And I understand that in my head; truly, I do. But the moments when I most need God's grace and forgiveness are the moments when I'm most likely to not accept it. While I try to brush it off like that fact is okay, it's really not.
"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" (Galatians 2:21).
If I could repair my brokenness on my own, if I could right my wrong before God through works, then I wouldn't need Jesus. So all those moments when I have a hard time accepting God's grace, when I think I have to have it all figured out on my own, it's almost like I'm saying Christ's sacrifice wasn't worth it. When I get caught up in needing to be perfect, it's almost like I'm saying, "You know, Jesus, what you did was swell, but it really wasn't good enough. I need to cover this on my own." That's just not true. I never want to belittle what Jesus did like that.
So sometimes, all the time, I just need to give in. It's too much to make sense of it all, but grace and love catches my fall. Grace has taken someone who once was lost and blind and found them, letting them see. I don't understand the mystery, but I'm glad it meets me where I am. Even more, though, I'm glad that it doesn't let me stay there.
Oh, to be like you
Give all I have just to know you
Jesus, there's no one besides you
Forever the hope in my heart.
What do you think of when you hear the word "grace"? Do you think it's something easy to accept or not? Why?
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