What's So Amazing About Grace?

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Martin, Lorna; Vincent, John (March 15, 2003). "Sales of Religious Books Soar as Readers Seek Refuge from War". The Herald. Glasgow. p.6 . Retrieved August 8, 2015. He tells them of ordinary people like them - and me - who accomplished the Miraculous in unnoticed, though life-affirming little ways - even without a mainstream religion. Grace is something that is incredibly simple in theory, deeply personal and very difficult to implement in our everyday lives. Grace is the defining element of Christianity and it is beautiful. Yet, the idea that we are loved and there is nothing that we can do that will change that love is met with skepticism at best and usually suspicion. Yancey makes it clear how very beautiful and simple Grace is. But he also covers "Grace Abuse" and forgiveness. All of this was thought provoking and inspired many conversations in our house. Throughout the book Yancey makes clear how very powerful Grace can be... it's just not easy.

Here is something you can count on: The better you believe yourself to be, the less grace you think you need. The more self-confident you are, the more convinced you’ll be that you could get by even if God were stingy with grace. Sure, you struggle with sin, but that’s just a part of the human predicament. All you need is some help from God and a bit of personal determination. You can make yourself good enough for God to accept you. You just need to get desperate enough to clean up your act. If grace can help you—fine. 5 So, what he did, of course, was Plant these teeth in a fertile field - like a crop of potatoes - and by the end of that faraway mythical summer, a group of fully-armed and steely-plated warriors started to sprout. So Hercules, capable and wily hero that he was, used them to get his revenge against the bad guys that were pestering him. Gold Medallion Book Awards Winners". Evangelical Christian Publishers Association . Retrieved August 14, 2015.Whereas, a life lived straight, no chaser - as Thelonius Monk played it and tried to live it - yields an abundant harvest of good things in a twisted world.

As the band played, the words of the hymn immediately came to mind, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me; I once was lost but now am found, Was blind but now I see.” Most people, including born again believers, do not think of themselves as wretches, but the author of “Amazing Grace” did. Though I have found some disagreement as to exactly when John Newton wrote the hymn (1748 or 1779), it was written after a close encounter with death on the high seas. This book has honestly changed my perspective on Christianity, religion, politics and my own relationship with Jesus. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law (i.e., Israel to whom God gave the Law), so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 3:20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:19-20, NET Bible). 10 In this revised and updated edition of his personal and provocative book, Yancey offers true portraits of grace's life-changing power. These stories, set in the midst of life's stark realities, evoke such questions as: It's the most powerful force in the universe, our only hope for love and forgiveness, and a foretaste of eternal life: amazing, radical, life-changing grace.In my experience, rejoicing and gladness are not the first images that come to mind when people think of the church. They think of holier-than-thous. They think of church as a place to go after you have cleaned up your act, not before. They think of morality, not grace. "Church!" said the prostitute, "Why would I ever go there? I was already feeling terrible about myself. They'd just make me feel worse."