that thou art in the dark and hast no light;
Grace vs. Truth. Here we go.
At the very pit of me, the very core (the mean core, the ha… HARD core) is rather rude. harsh. I want to see justice served.
My first minglings with God started with me, on my own, reading my Bible. Not just the Gospels, not just the epistles, but the nitty gritty Old Testament old-law stuff. The dark meat of the Bible.
And with that Old Testament goodness came a lot of laws that seem ridiculous, but back in the BC days, made sense. Eye for an Eye. Stone an adulterer. ETC.
What I understood before I really became what I call myself now, a Christian, I had a good grasp on justice. I knew that God hated sin and so when people sin, they’re punished. It makes sense. I hate bratty kids… they need punished (no harm in that!)
But it doesn’t end there.
There is a second half of the Bible… one that is pouring, overflowing with Grace. (To quote Relient K) “The beauty of Grace is that it makes life unfair.”
Yes, it makes life unfair to the perfect, sinless, non-existing humans out there. Luckily we all get a good taste of Grace because we all screw up (at least once or twice).
And that Grace extends, folks. No really, it does. It means that not only does God show Grace to His followers at the pearly gates, it means that He shows Grace to the murderers, sex-offenders, greedy, bigots here on earth. Yes, I said it.
And we should do the same.
I am hurt when people are so quick to judge. I don’t like it when people don’t like a certain group because of their label. And I don’t like when people don’t put their heart into what they say.
And maybe I’m running around in circles here. I judge too, I’m harsh, I am so quick to get angry at people who are “out to get me.” Or something of the sort.
What about Grace.
What about it?
Show it. With every heartstring, with every ounce of power you can squeeze out of yourself… LOVE. Be merciful for goshsakes. This is to me as much as it is to you all. Grace is what the Cross of Christ is all about. God realizing that we are only human, and forgiving us. We repent, we devote ourselves to Christ and we get an abundant life.
Let God do the judging. Let God say who is or isn’t worthy of this or that.
It’s not up to us.
only a [wo]man,
ezekiel
November 13, 2007