Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see
T'was grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
On July 1st 2001, I entered the gates of my home church in a feat to find out if my faith was fake. A decade in the wilderness can do that to you. The years of growing up, coming to terms with one's identity, looking for love in the wrong places and being initiated into the varsity of life can have a toll on a teenager of seventeen. After years in the wilderness, this prodigal returned home only to find her heavenly Father waiting for her return. "It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found." Luke 15:32 NJKV. The sermon preached from the pulpit that very Sunday was on The Prodigal Son. Not only did it shock my senses, His words cut through the callousness around my heart and revived my soul.
Love [Bao, when you accept me for who I am]
We love because He first loved us.1 John 4:19 NKJV. I have no credentials when it comes to love. Not characteristically, morally, nor intellectually. It fact, when it comes to love, I do so poorly. The ability to love my neighbour as myself is not in me. The magnanimity to love my enemies, to pray for those who spitefully use and persecute me is not found in me. I learn to love the people around me only because of the love I receive from Him. And just because I do not know how to love, does not mean that I love any less. It just means that I have to learn to love the way He loves. Isn't that what love is about? Isn't that how GOD loves us? He loves us just the way we are. No one is more or less deserving of His love. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45 NKJV.
Forgiveness [GL, when you said, "I forgive you"]
Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Luke 23:34 NKJV. I did not know where to start and how to finish this. Forgiveness is hard and it is a conscious choice and ongoing process. But unforgiveness is even harder and locks up the heart of the one whose wounds cut even deeper. Forgiving releases the wounded from the bondage of pain, injustice and hurt. Forgiveness extends a chance of turning around to the one who has inflicted the wounds. That's how GOD deals with us. The grace, love and forgiveness that He pours upon us give us the second chances to get on track again, to enter into His presence again. That we may end the race better than how we started.
May His love, grace and faithfulness abide with you always,
Sv ".+
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