Sunday, July 05, 2015

Grace.

I spoke with a friend in the week who is a mighty Christian - and one who has prayed on many times for me when I have been poorly. He seemed excited to have had a revelation about how great is God's grace toward us. I am delighted for him and his new experience but was a little troubled that he now seemed to make God's grace 'Number one' above all other things. It is a little like the extreme end of Pentecostalism where being filled with God's Spirit seems to take over and become the be all and the end all. Both of these positions are important but need to be seen in context. Similarly, Christians may major on: the Love of God or The Mercy of God or the End Times or The Forgiveness of God or The Sin Removing God and so on. If I may say this reverently: God comes as a package. You need all of these things and to add to the mix, God requires Praise, Worship and OBEDIENCE from us - and NOT selective obedience. My recent re-reading of Samuel makes that all to clear. But how many believers ignore the fact that we have a Righteous God. We ignore that fact at our peril.
So. Have I got it all right? No, far from it but perhaps I have sufficient vision to be able to help a few others along life's way as I ponder my own many failings.

Jonah Sulks Because God Does Not Destroy Nineveh Following Their Repentance. In My Part of England He'd Be Described As 'Mardy'.

  5)  Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what ...