"The Last Best Word"

...that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:7

These two smiling fellers are happy, the young one because exams are over and he can now spend time in the woods in peace, and the old guy, because exams are over and he can now spend time in the woods in peace.

A week ago, as I was dropping Stephen off on his way to school, he voiced his concern that he just didn’t know if he could do well enough on two exams to make the difference in a B and a C for the semester. Knowing that he had studied long and hard, I told him that his mama and I love the "B" Stephen and the "C" Stephen just the same. "Just do your best, and ask God to give you peace, not a certain grade," I reminded him. He voiced a quiet, "Thanks Dad."

It was my weak attempt at God’s grace. Being human, I can only understand it with superficiality, a concept so filled with such depth, I could study it the rest of my days and still not fathom a tenth of His grace for us.

I have become enthralled with Phillip Yancey’s writings. He seems to write books as he experiences the title, a journey not mapped out, but each chapter is just a new path on his way to discovery. In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace?, he grabbed me from chapter one.

He speaks of grace as "the last best word" in our heavenly lexicon. So many other words have been destroyed by the perversity of the world, watered down by the counterfeit, diluted by the disingenuous. But GRACE. It is not a word thrown around in our language like love and peace. Grace stands as that word that puts us in right standing with God through the work of the Cross of Christ. It is as George Herbert says, "And here in the dust and dirt, O here the lilies of His love appear." It is as Yancey states, "There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less."

Finally, I was taken with this quote from the book, a Christian counselor noted:

Many years ago I was driven to the conclusions that the two major causes of most emotional problems among evangelical Christians are these: the failure to understand, receive, and live out God’s unconditional grace and forgiveness; and the failure to give out that unconditional love, forgiveness, and grace to other people...We read, we hear, we believe a good theology of grace. But that’s not the way we live. The good news of the Gospel of grace has not penetrated the level of our emotions.

I know I write on grace frequently; I think it is because I am just cracking the surface of its profundity. It is just beginning to penetrate my emotions. I compare it to the living water that I wrote about recently. Refreshing to drink...and to offer to those around you. Help me Lord, to partake of both.

Mark
Prov 17:22