Friday, January 23, 2009

Grace for me and for you

I was at a Christian youth conference this week. We sung a bunch of songs about the grace of God.
As we sang, I noticed that the idea of grace is beefed up in most of the songs by talking up my own sin.
"I am so wretched, so impure..yet you saved me" etc.
This is all well and good, but I wonder whether our own sense of God's scandalous grace could be enhanced by songs that focus on the wretchedness of others, and God's love for them in Jesus Christ.

To pick on some of the conferences hang ups

"You had a non-christian girl/boyfriend...and God loves you

"You smoke cigarettes..and other substances...and God accepts you in Jesus Christ"

"You even have a rudimentary grasp of biblical theology...yet still in his mercy God loves you"

"You're in a pentecostal church who talks too much about the work of the Spirit in the present tense..and God embraces you with open arms"


Now, I know how the logic goes.
The lower a view I have of my own sin, the more accepting I will be of others.

And to a point that works.
Until we meet people who overwhelm our imagination, who are so obviously worse people than we are. My worry (from experience) is that this is where our grasp and practice of grace breaks down.
Yet surely in the grace of our Father, God accepts people who are far worse than me too!

So, write me a song, maybe under the title, Jesus and the Filth, or, You Nauseate Me

2 comments:

byron smith said...

Ahaha! Can't wait for this one to come out!
:-)

Mike Bull said...

Right on.

We have a couple who are both police officers in our Bible study group. They had real problems with scandalous grace, because they have both seen what human beings are truly capable of, to the point where one of them had to leave the force. This made us all come to terms with it in a much greater way.