[embedplusvideo height=”142″ width=”200″ editlink=”http://bit.ly/1jFxZvJ” standard=”http://www.youtube.com/v/n-0SZYTVZks?fs=1″ vars=”ytid=n-0SZYTVZks&width=200&height=142&start=&stop=&rs=w&hd=0&autoplay=0&react=1&chapters=¬es=” id=”ep3190″ /] Lots of strong feelings this week in the wake of Thursday’s mass shooting less than a day’s drive north from where I’m sitting this morning. What a hard thing for families and friends to have their loved ones forcibly taken from them by evil. I can think of lots of words being used in connection with this disaster- unfair, evil, justice, sickness, heartbreak, vengeance, grace,…..wait. What? Grace?
I ran into this song on the radio last night. Listened to it over and over. Shared it with some loved ones.
It’s nothing less than scandalous,
This Love that took our place.
Just call it what it is,
Call it grace. -Unspoken, Call It Grace
Yes. even for this troubled young man, even to his dying breath, the gift of salvation powered by grace, powered by completely undeserved action, could have been his.
It IS mine, every day that I choose to open my heart door to Jesus. Even on days that I fumble at the door knob and get in the way of the door swinging freely. It can be yours, today and every day, even if you can’t figure it out or even know what it means. It is yours for the wanting.
But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, Romans 5:20 NIV.
The strange and shocking difference between our world and Jesus’ kingdom is centered in how we place value and worthiness on people.
“Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
― John Newton, Amazing Grace
Today, as I wait for the sun to rise, I stand in shock and awe at the scandalous, reckless grace gift that saves me. And I am amazed at the secret of grace that I keep forgetting- when I value the people around me with grace in mind, I am copying Jesus and, just like he planned, can become just a little more like Him each day. Not because of me, but because of Him.