Grace

I have been back in the states for 2 1/2 weeks now, and want to thank you who faithfully read my blog updates during my time in Kenya. Many of you have encouraged me since my return, adjusting to living state-side, and praying with me as I seek my Father's plan for me in both the near and far future. One thing I continue to realize is that there is always going to be "unknown" futures and decisions. Finishing school does not erase that, but more seems to increase the need to trust God. I am thankful for this because if I knew my future I would most certainly not seek Him out and get to know Him better. I've decided to use my blog as a place to share "publicly" some of the lessons God is teaching me, ways I am growing in understanding while living as a redeemed sinner in a fallen world. Below is a paragraph about grace that captured my attention:


In his book "What's So Amazing About Grace" Philip Yancey quotes Helmut Thielicke saying:
"Jesus gained the power to love harlots, bullies, and ruffians... he was able to do this only because he saw through the filth and crust of degeneration, because his eye caught the divine original which is hidden in every way-in every man!... First and foremost he gives us new eyes.
When Jesus loved a guilt-laden person and helped him, he saw in him an erring child of God. He saw in him a human being whom his Father loved and grieved over because he was going wrong. He saw him as God originally designed and meant him to be, and therefore he saw through the surface layer of grime and dirt to the real man underneath. Jesus did not identify the person with his sin, but rather saw in this sin something alien, something that really did not belong to him, something that merely chained and mastered him and from which he would free him and bring him back to his real self. Jesus was able to love men because he loved them right through the layer of mud." Yancy goes on to say that "We may be abominations, but we are still God's pride and joy. All of us in the church need "grace-healed eyes" to see the potential in others for the same grace that God has so lavishly bestowed on us. "To love a person," said Dostoevsky, "means to see him as God intended him to be.""

Knowing and recognizing on a daily basis my sinfulness makes me long for a deeper understanding of the truly amazing grace God's abundantly poured out on me, that I as I grow in understanding this grace, my grace towards others will grow and that those around me see Christ.

~Sarah