My Word of the Year is "grace". It is amazing when you focus on one word or concept for the year how many opportunities you have to learn about it and practice it. I recently picked up the book,
The Ragamuffin Gospel
by Brennan Manning. On the back of the book I read, "Are you bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt out?" Um, do I need to answer that question? Doesn't life do that to us sometimes...leaving us bedraggled, beat-up and burnt out? I quickly opened up the book and realized that it is really about
.The first chapter is powerful...
"There is a myth flourishing in the church today that has caused incalculable harm: once converted, fully converted. In other words, once I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour, an irreversible, sinless future beckons. Discipleship will be an untarnished success story; life will be an unbroken upward spiral toward holiness. Tell that to poor Peter..."
We all know about poor Peter, claiming he would never abandon Christ and yet...
We may be saved in an instant, but it takes a lifetime to save our personalities. We are still sinful, still broken, still hurting on some level this side of heaven. And that is where the grace comes in...that is where His power is made perfect in our weakness.
As I get older, I wonder if I will ever arrive... you know the place: the holy saint without a flaw. The problem is have you ever met one? I can't say that I have. It will take my lifetime to weed through the flaws, get victory over sin, and heal my brokeness. In the meantime, I will take His Grace.
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