“Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.”
~ John Piper
I heard this quote in church recently, and it stayed with me. The subject of “grace” has been on my mind lately quite a bit. I feel it gets misreprented and people assume it is like “kindness” or being “nice” to others.
But grace is about God. Not “religion.” Not a specific church. Not a demonination.
When I see people get turned off by “God talk” what I hear when I ask them why is all about religion and the problems they’ve had with people in church or Christians who preach at them in a hateful way while being sinners themselves. And yet, they want what God offers. It’s just that they can’t get there because they are blinded by negativity surrounding the perception of God. They instead turn to loving “the universe” or “nature” or “some force” without naming Him, because that feels more comfortable than dealing with things like religion and judgemental people. And I get that. But I want to urge them, you’re missing the best part when you think that way.
God, this creator and father and teacher and friend, IS the best part. He will not let you down. He wants a relationship with you. He wants to KNOW you. This peace He offers is unlike anything I have ever known. It is what has kept me sane. It has what has helped me survive the hardest things. It is the reason some people say to me, “I don’t know how you dealt with all that” when I tell them my story. God is how.
If I could stress anything to those who so badly want true peace in their life and are trying to find it in all the things God offers (nature and kindness and love) but are trying to leave Him out of it because their perception is that God complicates it, what I would tell them is that Jesus makes is MORE simple. You can have the peace you crave right now, just as you are, with Jesus. You don’t need to “do” anything in order to have it other than let Him into your heart.
No special words said. No special acts done. No “being a better person.” Nope. Just as you are right now. And when you do that, you’ll understand what true grace really is.
