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Pickled Christian Covered in God's Sweet Grace Gravy
by Melissa Martin I am a pickled Christian. Sour. Vinegary. Bitter. I was meant to be a cucumber until I fell in the Garden of Eden alongside of Eve and Adam. Enter pride. Enter guilt. Enter fear. Enter shame and blame. Repent and receive salvation. Awesome! Enter paranoia about sinning and self-condemnation. Some of us try so hard to return to our cucumber-ness. We worry. We are anxious. We are scared. What if a sinful thought enters my mind while driving on the highway then I crash and die without time for repenting! What if my lipstick is too bright and my skirt too tight! I must repent throughout the day just in case I sin and don't know it. But, I want to be holy! How can I be holy! I'm afraid of not being holy enough! I am so amazed with Jesus' forgiveness and grace covering of the women caught in the act of adultery that I can hardly fathom it. Yet, I've heard other pickled Christians (pretending to be self-righteous cucumbers) focus only on the 'go and sin no more' part. When Apostle Paul speaks of grace I am blown away by the yoke of sin being broken. But, I hear the vinegary crowd hyper focus on the 'grace is not a license to sin' part. Our sins are as far as the east is from the west, but yet, I know Christians who believe every sinful deed is recorded and will be played on a big movie screen for the day of judgment. Some Christians would rather sink in the sea of apprehensive sin (fear of sinning) instead of floating in sweet grace gravy (accepting that Jesus took all the sins of the world upon Himself) and there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But there is sin in the church! But there is sin in Christian homes! Yes, but where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. The cross made grace gravy possible. Just as Jesus' blood covers us and His mercy covers us, so too, does His grace. Astounding grace gravy flows over me and covers me and I am full of joy. Just read 'What's So Amazing about Grace?' by Phillip Yancey or 'In the Grip of Grace' by Max Lucado. Listen to Joseph Prince speak on the Gospel of grace. Sometimes we work and we work and we strive to be a cucumber again, but that won't happen until we get our brand new spiritual body. Enter grace. God in His love, His kindness, His compassion, gave us amazing grace gravy. Melissa writes about the God and human connection and condition. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |