Grace
Okay, so I a reading The Raggamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. This is a book about God's grace and Jesus' character as a human, as well as God. In Manning's book, he quotes an author by the name of Burkhardt. He writes:
"I fear for the lawyer whose only life is corporate tax, the doctor whose whole existance is someone else's prostate, the business executive whose single responsibility is to his stockholders, the athlete who puts all his eggs in an 18-inch basket, the theologian who thinks the world can be saved by theology...A closed mind kills marriages and human relations; it deadens feelings and sensitivities; it makes for a church that lives in a thousand and one tunnels with no communication and no exit."
Unfortunately, this is what "church" has come to. I am included here. Everyone is killing themselves in order to be at the top of whatever they are doing. This can be healthy. In fact, there is great reward in being a terrific doctor, or an amazing basketball star...but in Heaven, no one is going to ask what you did on Earth as a vocation. The question is going to sound something like; Were you as accepting of grace as you could have been? And, what did you do to help others resound in God's grace. I miss the bus daily. I miss the beautiful grace of God because I choose to not accept it. Sure, I have accepted it once and for all, but there is more to life than praying a prayer and going about your business. I am not comfortable with a luke-warm acceptance of grace. I want more...I want the kind of grace that is...redeeming. The kind of grace that offers a sense of holiness. The irony of all this is that God offers that to me repeatedly, and only sometimes to do I accept it. Other times I choose to push God away for something I think is better, or more entertaining. The coolest part about all of this is that God isn't deterred by human weakness. God isn't stopped by human inequality. God pursues us where we are, and if we don't budge, he pushes even harder. I tell you the truth...God must be pushing really hard to reach me each and every day...and He loves me enough to continue to push
"I fear for the lawyer whose only life is corporate tax, the doctor whose whole existance is someone else's prostate, the business executive whose single responsibility is to his stockholders, the athlete who puts all his eggs in an 18-inch basket, the theologian who thinks the world can be saved by theology...A closed mind kills marriages and human relations; it deadens feelings and sensitivities; it makes for a church that lives in a thousand and one tunnels with no communication and no exit."
Unfortunately, this is what "church" has come to. I am included here. Everyone is killing themselves in order to be at the top of whatever they are doing. This can be healthy. In fact, there is great reward in being a terrific doctor, or an amazing basketball star...but in Heaven, no one is going to ask what you did on Earth as a vocation. The question is going to sound something like; Were you as accepting of grace as you could have been? And, what did you do to help others resound in God's grace. I miss the bus daily. I miss the beautiful grace of God because I choose to not accept it. Sure, I have accepted it once and for all, but there is more to life than praying a prayer and going about your business. I am not comfortable with a luke-warm acceptance of grace. I want more...I want the kind of grace that is...redeeming. The kind of grace that offers a sense of holiness. The irony of all this is that God offers that to me repeatedly, and only sometimes to do I accept it. Other times I choose to push God away for something I think is better, or more entertaining. The coolest part about all of this is that God isn't deterred by human weakness. God isn't stopped by human inequality. God pursues us where we are, and if we don't budge, he pushes even harder. I tell you the truth...God must be pushing really hard to reach me each and every day...and He loves me enough to continue to push
posted by Chris | 4:12 PM
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