By: Mike Kelly
Retired Pastor
This month, I’m looking at the songs and hymns that move me emotionally. They draw me closer to God. Amazing Grace is certainly one of the greatest hymns of our faith.
Having helped to pioneer Grace Community Church in Bryan may give you some idea of how important grace is to me as a theological construct.
“Amazing grace! how sweet the sound that saved a wretch; like me!” Amazing that God would love me or any of us enough to send his son to die for us, to offer salvation to us. We certainly don’t deserve any of his love.
That’s why they call it “grace,” which means unmerited or undeserved favor. I’m studying Hosea and seeing how unfaithful we as a people and as individuals are, yet God continues to promise that He is our God and we are his people. That kind of love is unfathomable.
“I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” We talk about seeking God, but the truth is that God seeks us. He uses Holy Spirit to draw us.
In essence, Holy Spirit is the active force that bridges the gap between God and humanity, wooing us into a loving, transformative relationship by making the Father’s love and call to eternal life a reality in our hearts.
“Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved;”
At first glance, this is a confusing saying. Grace taught me to fear, and grace relieved my fear? But think about this, if we didn’t know sin, we would see no need for God to save us. It’s only by God’s grace that he shows us our sin and our need for him.
He could have left us in our ignorance, and we would not have felt his conviction about our sin. Only his grace and love for us opened us to listening to Holy Spirit’s conviction. And it is his grace that covers our sin and relieves our fear of eternal judgment and damnation.
“Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.”
What a proclamation! God has always been there for us, and he has carried us through troubles, need, and evil. That’s his grace at work in our daily lives. And it will never not be enough. He will always show his mercy and protection because he loves us that much.
“The Lord hath promised good to me. His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.”
God’s grace and mercy do not end with our salvation. They continue to cover us both as the shield that protects us from Satan’s temptations and accusations, but also he gives us all we need to live a life of faithfulness to him. God is incapable of coming up short when it comes to meeting our needs.
And when the end comes and we meet him face to face, we will forever praise him.
“When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.”
Does that sound boring to you? Just hanging around the throne singing praises to God every minute of every day for all eternity? Remember all those drawings of little angels sitting on clouds playing harps? Is that what awaits us? I certainly hope not.
God created us with a desire to know him, but also with a brain for discovery and creativity. Don’t you think God will allow us to use our brains? Just because scripture says we will know God like he knows us, it doesn’t mean we will have all knowledge.
I can imagine searching for new and creative ways of learning, but without the frustrations we experience on earth when our experiments fail. I had a pastor once who said he wanted to be the groundskeeper at heaven’s golf course.
Who knows, maybe there is golf in heaven. The difference won’t be that all shots will be perfect; the difference will be that we will not be frustrated by our bad shots.
God loves us too much to allow us to just exist here and then die. He has great plans for us, and they don’t extend to just living life here and being thrown away.
God wants us to be with him forever. His grace is the guarantee that we are loved and will always be cared for. And one day, he will take us to where we truly belong.
Will we sing his praises? I certainly will. It may take me 10,000 years of praising him to just understand how he could love me enough to die for me.
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Mike Kelly is the founding pastor of Bryan’s Grace Community Church (retired) and Board Chairman of Bryan’s Sanctuary Homeless Shelter and Williams County’s Compassion (free) Medical Clinic.
Source: The Village Reporter