grace.

Isn't it funny that we proportion the level of sin to the availability of forgiveness?

It kind of goes like this:

Stealing candy from Wal-Mart - Forgiven
Cheating on your boyfriend - Maybe
Murder - No way

It's so much harder to believe something than it is to read it. John 3:16-17 clearly state the purpose of...well, pretty much everything. It's funny how we, as a unified body of Christ, have transformed certain verses. Such as:

John 1:29 - "The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

In today's world, this reads: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the good and morally righteous who tithe and do not swear!"

In James Bryan Smith's book The Good and Beautiful God, he talks about the most famous Bible verse ever, and how its message has gotten twisted over time.

This passage has brought comfort to countless people, and is considered by many to be a summation of the entire Bible. Jesus is explaining the reason for his mission: God loved the world and wanted to save it. Many people believe that God is mad at them, but for some reason he has yet to punish them fully. Such people would be more comfortable had Jesus said, "For God was so mad at the world that he sent his Son to come down and tell them to shape up, that whosoever would shape up would have eternal life. Indeed, God did send his Son into the world to condemn it, in order that the world might be saved through good works."

Tell me that's not the dominant narrative in the world today.

And we're so quick to believe forgiveness happens to others. It's easy. You hear of a man on death row whose faith got him out of prison and now he's building orphanages in Africa. But when we sin against God...suddenly it's, oh, no, I can't be saved.

Why does this contradiction exist so rampantly in today's world? Why is our society force-feeding us images of performanced-based favor?

People need to see grace.
We need to show them.


But sometimes,

accepting grace,

is harder than giving it.


Oh,
no.

I can't be saved.

As my homebody Andy Stanley says, "Grace acknowledges the full implication of sin and yet does not condemn."