3 posts tagged “grace”

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Grace > Sin

Sprinkle me  with water and I will be pure; wash me and I will be whiter than snow.

Psalm 51:7

It's amazing David has the gall to pray this after he murdered a guy after committing adultery with his wife. You'd think "true" repentance would be more along the lines of "God, I'm so horrible and terrible and will never ever be able to measure up to you. God, I deserve to die. God, I am such a loser. God, I want to try and do the right thing, but oh, I'm such a sinner." Instead, David asks God to simply say the word, sprinkle him with water, and that he'd then be pure and whiter than snow! Either he's underestimating and downplaying his own sin (unlikely, given verse 4)...or perhaps, he truly understands the depth and the radical nature of the love and grace of God, and is humbly accepting both.
Post a comment Tags: grace, confession, sin, forgiveness, psalm 51

Whatever you have in mind

Nathan said to David, “You should do whatever you have in mind,  for God is with you.”

1 Chronicles 17:2

I love this - so often I get so worked up about "What's God's will for my life, what does he want me to do..." that I forget this simple principle: If I really am sure that everything between God and me is all right, that "God is with me" and I am connected to God, I can simply "do whatever I have in mind". Should it be a bad idea, I can trust God to tell me. In fact, in this chapter, exactly that occurs: God tells David to NOT do what he had in mind.

But the security Nathan gives David here speaks to my heart on how God desires us to make our own decisions when we're connected to him. He doesn't expect us to keep running to him for every last detail. Of course this doesn't mean we DON'T seek him for his will, especially when we're talking about big things. But it does mean we can relax a little.

Oh, and an encore from this chapter:

I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you!

1 Chronicles 17:10

Remember that David was the one who wanted to build a house for God. But here God says "No, I don't need a house, instead, I will build you a house - a dynasty which will last forever!" God is making sure David realizes that David can never even come close to repaying God for His blessings, and He makes sure by simply adding blessing upon blessing.

God's grace is so huge, it completely overwhelms David. In his response to God, he uses the emotional and thankful "O, God!" or "O, Lord!" a whopping 9 times!
Post a comment Tags: david, grace, freedom, quiet time, blessing, god's will, 1 chronicles …

Grace

On Saturday, the pastor I talked about in my last post from the mission team taught on grace.

He basically summarized grace by comparing it to mercy and justice - it wasn't a completely new concept to me, I had heard it shared in that way before somewhere (can't remember where though). Basically the idea is:

Justice is receiving exactly what you deserve - no more, no less

Mercy is receiving less (punishment) than you deserve.

Grace is receiving favor when you realize you deserve justice and can only barely hope for mercy.

The perfect picture of this is of course the Prodigal Son: the son realizes he justly deserves separation from his father, but hopes maybe his father will show enough mercy to at least let him be a servant and stay in his barn or something.

But the Father shows grace: He runs to meet the son, hugs him, kisses him, interrupts him in the middle of his repentance speech, gives him an expensive ring, the best clothes, and throws a huge party for him.

Christ paid the full price of our sins (because of the perfect justice of God). When we accept Christ, God not only completely erases our debt (out of mercy), but He also creates us anew, gives us His Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing even more to come, and gives us many, many promises - out of grace.

Thank God for (frikkin') amazing Grace.

Post a comment Tags: teaching, justice, grace, gospel, mercy