On My Podium-On Grace

I just started exploring the blogging world. It is very much like the world we live in, a diverse group of people, only I thought much more personal. I read things about people that I would never know if I stood behind them in the grocery store or even if I went to church with them. As we walk this earth we are so closed, so private, yet I saw the insides of these people eloquently written on a page for the world to see.

I find it refreshing. What if we opened ourselves up like this, person to person, just laid our hurts out there, would we be handled carefully, or would we be looked down upon?

I read in one blog, a women writing about Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter who is pregnant, she thanks God she doesn’t have those problems and continues to write about her friend’s kids that have made bad choices with drugs, sex and other things.

She ends with “I also hope I am spared from looking down my nose at those who find themselves needing God's grace.”

I am sorry she even has to ask God for that.

First let me address the statement "for those who find themselves needing God's grace." We ALL everyday need God's grace, everyday I am a sinner, everyday I need God to forgive me for something, bad attitude, pride, selfishness, un-controlled anger, and on and on and on. Let us not forget we don't "find ourselves" needing grace we just do.

How is God’s grace displayed? Through me.

Those that have never faced “those” kind of challenges should be the first to help those who are facing them, but unfortunately for many it’s hard to have empathy for others if they’ve never experienced the gut wrenching effects of their own bad choices, their children on drugs, or their teenage daughter telling them she’s pregnant.

This world is crying out. The depth of pain that is touching so many people is overwhelming, we don’t have time to look down our nose at others or even waste our time praying that we don’t look down our nose at others.

Let us spend our time praying for those whose lives are lost and hurting, let us be a witness to them, let us hold them and remind them that in all of their mess, God loves them. I guarantee you; you spend your time praying for others, you won’t need to worry whether your looking down your nose or not.

I think the world is sick of Christians talking about Christ; we need to start showing them Christ.

I ask God to give me his heart for others, to hurt for what he hurts for, that is actually a line from one of my favorite songs. I pray that because it’s easy even for me who’s had many gut wrenching experiences to become indifferent to the pains of this world because there are so many, not to mention my own busyness and problems coming at me.

Let me clear up one thing, I am not coming down on “her” I believe she means well and expressed a view many Christians have. I felt compelled to remind us, one more time that God’s grace is displayed through “US” his church, his body.

Our purpose in this world is not to pat other Christians on the back but to reach out to those that are making poor choices, to those that are lost and hurting. Jesus didn’t spend all of his time in church hanging out with church folks. He was in the world amongst the people. Hum, how about that?

I was asked once, “How would I change the world?” “Giving Grace-One person at a time." Let us all work on that.