Grace For All

Grace is the only real transformative currency. You have probably learned by now that judging, criticizing and shaming people does not really produce great results. It may change people’s behavior, but in the long run, it just produces more and more shame. You shame your kids, then  they feel ashamed and shame their kids. The way out is to find grace for yourself, and you will at that same time find it for others. To some of you, this may seem like cheap grace or “letting people off ...  Keep reading

Receiving Forgiveness

You will be able to forgive others as soon as you are ready to accept forgiveness for yourself. The things we do not forgive in others are the same things we refuse to forgive in ourselves. Alternatively, as soon as you are ready to receive grace into your greatest shame, you will be able to offer the same to another. If you can be forgiven then so can I, and vice versa. Grace reaches both of us at the same time; it is the great equalizer.

So Much Sin to Forgive

When spending time with broken people (we all are), it is important to remember that it is a blessed art – to witness their lives is to witness God moving in a real way. It is these people who God says are broken so that he may display his work in them. When you are with them, you are a fortunate watcher of God’s grace being poured into a life, and you may even be the vessel. These people have a certain humility and secret knowledge of the secret of the universe – that the ones who are actually blessed are the ones who are poor in spirit and mourning. It must also be true that God holds a special place for those who have sinned much. There is a strange little song by David Thomas Broughton which goes like this: “God loves a murderer, because there’s so much sin to forgive.” I believe that. God’s grace and love are necessary and his redemptive power is displayed when we are so broken. When those things are received by one who is so far away, it is the most beautiful thing. It is the walking away from grace that creates the great need and great potential for such lovely restoration.