Grace

Weakness of God

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“the cross cannot be merely taught or reasoned. It must be experienced” Joni Eareckson Tada

There is nothing desirable about weakness especially mental weakness. There are no prizes for not knowing the answers or being lost. I still remember my stepfather’s reasoning about asking directions. “It is pointless because they are only going to tell you to turn around and go the other way!”

But God not only loves times when in our frustration fear and weakness we humbly come home to Him. He isn’t waiting to say , “Aha! I told you so!” God instead comes quietly alongside and shows us His hands and feet as a loving reminder that He too was weak … And through weakness He became strong!

Finding Grace

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All through the Bible are people whose lives are woven together by grace. Some like Noah felt alone or like Hannah rejected. Some suffered abuse like Hagar others shame like the woman caught in the act of adultery. What we share with each and every one of them is our hope in God’s great grace. It reaches to our deepest hurts and washes clean our darkest sin. No matter what anyone thinks including ourselves, God has an open door and place at the cross. His grace is eternal love in action without any fear of our failures or impatience with our weakness. In all the universe we will never go anywhere that His grace cannot find!

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord . Genesis 6:8 NKJV

So Glad You Asked!

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When I was a young boy my mom used to bake home made bread. With just the screen door closed on the back of our house that wonderful aroma reached around the neighborhood. By the time mom was pulling the loaves out of the oven I was lining up with my friends to get a slice. As soon as it cooled enough for my mother to cut open a loaf and spread butter on we would gobble it down.

In much the same way people couldn’t wait to see Jesus. One of the great things about His ministry was that all sorts of people felt they could ask Him questions. “Who is my neighbor? How do I inherit eternal life? How many times should I forgive my brother? How can a man be born when he is old? and What is truth?” All these and many more questions Jesus was able to answer because people asked. The words and life of Jesus were so filled with grace that people wanted to ask him about whatever problems they had.

If no one is asking us questions outside of church maybe we need to check if our lives and words have the flavor of grace. Grace that flows from the love of Christ will always find it’s way to someone who is hungry in the same way the fresh baked bread drew us in the kitchen door!