Grace

I'd heard a lot about the book What's So Amazing About Grace , and when I saw it in my grandfather's study the other week I decided I might as well go ahead and read it. It is a fantastic book. I felt very moved and challenged by it, and the concept of God's grace never ceases to amaze me....

One particular thing really jumped out at me though. Philip Yancey (the author) noted how Jesus says God will not forgive our sins if we do not forgive others' sins against us. I'd heard and read this before, of course, but for some reason I hadn't really thought about it much before and it really hit me. Probably because there are a few people right now who I'm finding it extremely hard to deal with and forgive. It's hard to forgive someone who keeps hurting and ignoring you even when you're trying your best to make things right, especially when you weren't the one who did anything wrong in the first place. Basically there a few (but thank goodness no more than that) people whose throats I want to throttle at this moment. As the book noted, grace goes against all our instincts. We want to do what's fair and right. We want to hurt others just as much as they hurt us because they deserve it. That's why grace is so earthshaking. None of us deserve forgiveness and all of us deserve to be hurt. So if God can forgive me for all the terrible things I've done, then I should be able to forgive people for what they've done, which amounts to practically nothing compared to all that I've done wrong to God.

Very tough stuff. Forgiveness can be hard. But forgiving doesn't mean we have to let people walk all over us (as the book noted). We can forgive people without condoning their actions toward us or making them think what they did to us was okay. It's still very hard to do though. It's much more appealing to scream and rave at that person and hate them (and let them know it too). I have to look at it this way. If God has forgiven me and still loves me ,then surely. with God's help, I can try to do the same for others....

Bottom line: read this book. It's very eye opening and Philip Yancey is a great author. So what are you waiting for? Go read it! ;)