Ever new
(grace)
In human relationships, even the deepest, the most enduring, like that of loving parents, have limits, though these limits are seldom reached in life. Parents will love their children even if they do great evil, even if they abandon them, yet the love more often than not persists. Human love of the best kind shadows the love of God, which is infinite.
I still have little understanding of what this means, a love that has no bottom, like an ocean that has no end to its width and depth. We can love deeply, because we are made in the image and likeness of God. Perhaps that is why when we do show mercy and compassion and the fruit of humility which leads to empathy; we feel joy and expansion in our hearts. When we don’t, we feel deep suffering, even though we may not call it that. Contempt and hatred for others is a form of suffering that only gets worse as times moves on. It is because the human heart is made for more, much more and when that is not attained; well there is only an isolated self at war with others that remains. It is a hell like experience that can be perceived as normal.
Grace; the grace that is taught by Christ, is God’s love shown in the incarnation. For me, this slow understanding of what that means is a lifetime endeavor and the deeper the Lord leads me, the more I don’t understand, but still I seek to swim ever deeper. We can swim in mystery; play in it and can become frustrated because the deeper truth is just beyond our reach and in our seeking it always remains so, though we do go ever deeper into God’s love and grace. Understanding is often manifested in the healing that takes place, which shows in our relationships. We become vessels for the love of God to be manifested in the world. It happens because we stay open, don’t give up, and in spite of our ever deeper understanding of our need for grace, which is again humility; we find ourselves becoming what we never thought possible.
Grace, God’s love, is what halts the natural self destructive tendencies that we seem to have as a species. Our cultures, with all of its beauty, as well as what is ugly, life denying and outright evil, is a reflection of our inner selves, which is not often a pretty picture. Because of that, many do not believe the grace that is shown to us in Christ Jesus is possible. Yet infinite love sees deeply, sees all and because of that can forgive and heal all.
Christians often make the mistake of trying to domesticate God, and then become the Pharisees of this age. Good people, who perhaps forget the complete gift that God’s grace has been for them. Infinite love can’t be hemmed in, nor can anyone understand the loving relationship that God has for each of his children. The reason we are told not to judge others, to separate them into groups, the saved and the unsaved, is because we simply don’t know what we are talking about. We are called to love, to show the hope we have in Christ Jesus in a manner that is respectful and loving…….we do not need to carry the awful burden of being a judge. Our hearts our small, for in this life we are all children at the beginning of our journey into eternity, an eternity of ever deeper searching for God’s love, as well as experiencing it. It is ever new; there is always a new beginning in our love of God, as well as our love for one another. We are called to pray for all, and to seek to serve those in need, for the poor are always with us. I would suppose all of us are poor in someway, often hidden. So we are called to love all, which again, in order to do that, it is grace that works in secret to bring out this fruit. It is humility that allows this to happen. For self knowledge make true the adage: “There, but for the grace of God, go I”.
I still have little understanding of what this means, a love that has no bottom, like an ocean that has no end to its width and depth. We can love deeply, because we are made in the image and likeness of God. Perhaps that is why when we do show mercy and compassion and the fruit of humility which leads to empathy; we feel joy and expansion in our hearts. When we don’t, we feel deep suffering, even though we may not call it that. Contempt and hatred for others is a form of suffering that only gets worse as times moves on. It is because the human heart is made for more, much more and when that is not attained; well there is only an isolated self at war with others that remains. It is a hell like experience that can be perceived as normal.
Grace; the grace that is taught by Christ, is God’s love shown in the incarnation. For me, this slow understanding of what that means is a lifetime endeavor and the deeper the Lord leads me, the more I don’t understand, but still I seek to swim ever deeper. We can swim in mystery; play in it and can become frustrated because the deeper truth is just beyond our reach and in our seeking it always remains so, though we do go ever deeper into God’s love and grace. Understanding is often manifested in the healing that takes place, which shows in our relationships. We become vessels for the love of God to be manifested in the world. It happens because we stay open, don’t give up, and in spite of our ever deeper understanding of our need for grace, which is again humility; we find ourselves becoming what we never thought possible.
Grace, God’s love, is what halts the natural self destructive tendencies that we seem to have as a species. Our cultures, with all of its beauty, as well as what is ugly, life denying and outright evil, is a reflection of our inner selves, which is not often a pretty picture. Because of that, many do not believe the grace that is shown to us in Christ Jesus is possible. Yet infinite love sees deeply, sees all and because of that can forgive and heal all.
Christians often make the mistake of trying to domesticate God, and then become the Pharisees of this age. Good people, who perhaps forget the complete gift that God’s grace has been for them. Infinite love can’t be hemmed in, nor can anyone understand the loving relationship that God has for each of his children. The reason we are told not to judge others, to separate them into groups, the saved and the unsaved, is because we simply don’t know what we are talking about. We are called to love, to show the hope we have in Christ Jesus in a manner that is respectful and loving…….we do not need to carry the awful burden of being a judge. Our hearts our small, for in this life we are all children at the beginning of our journey into eternity, an eternity of ever deeper searching for God’s love, as well as experiencing it. It is ever new; there is always a new beginning in our love of God, as well as our love for one another. We are called to pray for all, and to seek to serve those in need, for the poor are always with us. I would suppose all of us are poor in someway, often hidden. So we are called to love all, which again, in order to do that, it is grace that works in secret to bring out this fruit. It is humility that allows this to happen. For self knowledge make true the adage: “There, but for the grace of God, go I”.
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