Tag Archives: grace

unconditional love

The God I have come to know loves me as much in a state of disgrace as He loves me in a state of grace, for His compassion is never ever based on performance. It knows no possibility of alteration or change.

Grace is getting what you don’t deserve and not getting what you do deserve.

Grace is the opposite of karma.

Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely, the peace of God given to the restless, the unmerited favour of God. Grace is free sovereign favour. Grace is unconditional love towards the one who does not deserve it.

Grace is love that cares and stoops and rescues.

Grace is God reaching downward to those in rebellion against him. Grace is one-way love.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy: the bruised reed of your life He will not crush, and the smoldering wick He wont snuff out, until He’s led  your life’s story to victory, and finally home!

Will you let Him love you as you are, and not as you should be?

Just as Brennan used to say: “Cause nobody..is as they should be.”

more grace!

You (probably) know I am a fan of grace,

I’m won by grace,

wooed and transformed by grace ….

“Grace is something you can never get but only be given. The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you. Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid. I am with you. Nothing can ever separate us. It’s for you I created the universe. I love you. There’s only one catch. Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you reach out and take it. Maybe being able to reach and take it is a gift too.”

or this, from Louie Giglio:- “We’re not home yet, but if grace doesn’t make you dance a little on the way we must not have heard the same gospel!”

Don’t lose sight of this…….

“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you!!”  Frederick Buechner from Wishful Thinking

grace, and more grace

Grace is the celebration of life, relentlessly hounding all the non-celebrants in the world. It is a floating, cosmic bash shouting its way through the streets of the universe, flinging the sweetness of its cassations to every window, pounding at every door in a hilarity beyond all liking and happening, until the prodigals come out at last and dance, and the elder brothers finally take their fingers out of their ears.

Robert Farrar Capon, Between Noon & Three: Romance, Law & the Outrage of Grace

pastoral wisdom…

from Paul David Tripp.
Not only a great name (!!)…….but a man of substance, wisdom and blessing for the church worldwide. A role-model in pastoral ministry, and a mentor through his writing. I cant wait for his next book coming soon……..so in anticipation, here’s a freebie sampler!

“Many of us respond to grace like the child who plays with the box instead of the gift. We settle for information when transformation is promised.”

“Defeat, discouragement, anger, fear, and frustration will always result when you look to people and things to be your own personal messiah.”

“What I could not earn, Jesus earned. What I could not defeat, Jesus defeated. What I could not bear, Jesus bore. He is my solitary hope.”

“Jesus has promised to meet your needs. He hasn’t promised to supply all those cravings you’ve mistakenly told yourself are needs.”

or as Chloe writes it brilliantly: “ I have to say some Nos to things which are good and joy-bringing, because I want to say the right and fullest Yes, the Amen to what he has purposed in Christ!”

,……..here’s to this abundant, radical dangerous calling!

all is precious…

drink it in…..

“Taking your children to school and kissing your wife goodbye. Eating lunch with a friend. Trying to do a decent day’s work. Hearing the rain patter against the window. There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognise or not to recognise…. Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

Frederick Buechner

all is precious…

unreligion

I appreciate this from Dane Ortlund’s recent book, Defiant Grace: The Surprising Message and Mission of Jesus. To give you a taste, here’s a quote……..

Christianity is the unreligion. It turns all our religious instincts on their head……The ancient Greeks told us to be moderate by knowing our inclinations. The Romans told us to be strong by ordering our lives. Buddhism tells us to be disillusioned by annihilating our consciousness. Hinduism tells us to be absorbed by merging our souls. Islam tells us to be submissive by subjecting our wills. Agnosticism tell us to be at peace by ignoring our doubts. Moralism tells us to be good by discharging our obligations. Only the gospel tells us to be free by acknowledging our failure. Christianity is the unreligion because it is the one faith whose founder tells us to bring not our doing, but our need.