What's So Amazing About Grace : My Reflection

As I look back on my own pilgrimage, marked by wanderings, detours, and dead ends, I see now that what pulled me along was search my for grace ... I have barely tasted of grace myself, have rendered less than I have received, and I am in no wise, an 'expert' on grace. These are, in fact, the very reasons that impel me to write. I want to know more, to understand more, to experience more grace ... Accept then, here at the beginning, that I write as a pilgrim qualified only by my craving for grace.

-- Philip Yancey

Before reading this book, I've never seriously put myself in deep thoughts about the word "grace". Like I've evern put myself in any deep thought. But it's true, I've been taking for granted the word "grace". I've learnt the word since God knows when. It is preached so oftenly in church, it is taught in my Christianity class back in school, and most importantly, it has been shown to me even before I was born. "Before you were born!?!? Don't be kidding me!" you would think. Do read this then :

• For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
  ephesians 1:4
  

• For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
  ephesians 2:8

Now on the book. The interesting thing about this book is that when you look at the title and you think "At last, somewhere I can find the true meaning of grace!", you will be disappointed because Yancey is far from trying to define grace.

He refers to the Roman Catholic Church having destroyed grace by tring to dissect it. Probably like dissecting a frog to see how it works!, while the frog dies in the process. We destroy life in our quest for the meaning of life. Instead, Yancey illustrates grace by example, just like Jesus using parables. He wants us to FEEL grace instead of defining it. Learn by experience, just as many other things in world.

At this point of time, I have to remind myself not to put high hopes in this writing.

What do I learn from reading this book then?

Firstly,

Grace was the most important message Jesus brought to this unforgiving world. That through Him, all the unforgivables inside us are forgiven.

Aware of our inbuilt resistance to grace, Jesus talked about it often. He described a world suffused with God's grace: where the sun shines on people good and bad; where birds gather seeds gratis, neither plowing nor harvesting to earn them; where untended wildflowers burst into bloom on the rocky hillsides. Like a visitor from a foreign country who notices what the natives overlook, Jesus saw grace everywhere. Yet he never analyzed or defined grace, and almost never used the word. Instead, he communicated grace through stories we know as parables.

If we have experienced that grace, why then do we not strive to forgive the unforgivable in others? Why should God forgive us, if we don't even care to forgive others?

I know, forgiving is easier said than done. Sometimes, it's hard to even forgive someone who has hurt our feelings. Imagine the prophet Hosea, whose wife has abandoned him, committed adultery. Hosea continued to love his wife in spite of that and finally brought her home after being asked by God to do so.

The LORD said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes." Hosea 3:1

What is the message here? God wants Hosea to show grace to his wife, the way God has shown grace to the Israelites. GRACE by forgiveness. Does his wife deserve to be brought home? No. Grace is about not deserving what you receive.

You might notice also, that this shouldn't be the end of this reflection. But I have to end it here, and continue the next time. Remember about starting small, and growing big. Remember the Kingdom of God as small as the mustard seed now. Remember. Yes, I am talking to myself