Disclaimer: About This Blog

THIS BLOG IS: my personal journey of how I am rethinking some of my spiritual beliefs.
THIS BLOG IS NOT: intended to point fingers at people who I think are wrong.
I do not believe the final judgement will be based on how many correct answers we get on a theology exam. I believe many people throughout history have had genuine relationships with God, despite holding questionable beliefs and practices. I make no claim to having it all figured out or being your judge. If we end up disagreeing over these topics I pray we can find a way to demonstrate grace.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

God's Grace

I want to share a few thoughts on God's grace today.

I am thankful God doesn't deal fairly with me.  He gives me much more grace than I deserve.

Throughout the years I have done a lot of wrong.  My self centered actions have hurt others and myself.  Sometimes I've done selfish things on purpose, other times it just comes naturally to me. I'm sure there are even some selfish things I do that cause harm to others that I am not even aware of.

But God continues to be good to me.  He doesn't expect me to be perfect.  He simply wants me to love Him and learn to follow Him.

This understanding of God's grace gives me reason to be gracious and loving towards others.  Even others who are selfish and often wrong.

In terms of my Christian beliefs, I am recognizing God also doesn't expect us to have it all figured out.  He is gracious to believers with bad theology and un-Biblical traditions too.  As I look at church history, God has been very gracious to many believers with bad theology and practice.  I'm not sure if any group of believers has ever had it all figured out, even those in the early church.

I believe most bad theology and traditions are not intentional.  Most believers want to believe the truth and desire to follow biblical traditions.  The problem is we often start off looking to other people and follow less than perfect examples.

But God is gracious to each of us.

We need to also learn to be gracious and loving to others who are less than perfect.

I have no clue how God will sort it out. I don't know who is 'in' and who is 'out'.  But I know God has been gracious to me, and I am learning to be gracious to others.


May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.

2 comments:

Steve Martin said...

Very well said, Jonathan.

We do "see through the lens dimly".

We ceratinly ought to love God and our neighbors as ourselves. We won't do that perfectly, either. Not in this life.

But as you say, He knows this about us and loves and forgives us.

Thanks for that encouraging word.

Jonathan said...

Thanks Steve Martin for the gracious comment. :)