Learning and Re-learning: Grace

If you checked my blog a few hours ago, you might have read a post where I, in detail, outlined some personal struggles. About 4 or 5 paragraphs told the stories of my failures, while 1 or 2 sentences spoke of God's grace in the midst of those failures.

What a backwards ratio.

So now, in this post, I will tell you that living in this city has brought some dark spots in my life to the surface, and I ask for forgiveness and am working to brighten them. That's enough to tell. What I really want to share with you is this: God's grace is sufficient for me and my dark spots.

Philip Yancey, in one of my favorite books of all time, What's So Amazing about Grace?, says this:

Grace makes it's appearance in so many forms that I have trouble defining it. I am ready, though to attempt something like a definition of grace in relation to God. Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more--no amount of spiritual calisthenics and renunciations, no amount of knowledge gained from seminaries and divinity schools, no amount of crusading on behalf of righteous causes (no amount of moving to New York City to start churches). And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less--no amount of racism or pride or pornography or adultery or even murder. Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love.

Ahh. Now that is a better ratio.