andi oakes

The GRACE of God.  The unmerited favour shown to us by the almighty.  The truth that God gives to us what we do not deserve instead of raining down on us justifiable anger in the face of our blatant acts of selfish lunacy.

It's a basic belief of the Christian faith, and one I hold to dearly.

Having said that however, I am increasingly aware that the power of this truth is possibly lost on me because, basically, when it comes to God, I find it extremely difficult to relate to Him sometimes because...well...He's God.  How can I comprehend the Almighty?  How can I really grasp the magnitude of God whilst living in a world that so often seems to deny that He is actually there?  Receiving grace and mercy from God then becomes something of a concept it seems to me: an idea that I hold to, that eventually becomes my belief based on what the Bible and other people tell me – though, if I am going to be completely honest...I sometimes wonder if it really exists at all outside of my own personal beliefs.

You see, when I get it wrong...when I put my big stupid foot in it time and time and time again...(and what's worse is that God gave me two feet to reek double trouble with) I try to console myself with the belief that God loves me and has forgiven me, and that one day I'll experience that love and mercy in its fullest.  But “someday” isn't terribly helpful when you're busy beating yourself up in the “here and now” for the awful decisions made in the heat of the moment and potentially messing up other people's lives in the process.  

That's why Jesus taught us to forgive and show mercy to each other I think.  For in the moment I extend or receive mercy to or from another human being...I share something of the truth of God's mercy in this shallow reality that we currently call home.  We cannot separate God from this life we all are here to live.  When someone else gives me the mercy that I do not deserve in response to my misguided actions...in that very second God's mercy becomes tangible.  

God is love: it's an emphatic statement made in the Bible.  But yet that emphatic statement will still remain somewhat disconnected until it invades this physical space.  Jesus Himself was that physical invasion of God's love in action...living and giving His life to bring us to God's loving kingdom; but even Jesus can become a concept to us by virtue of the fact that we cannot see Him.  When someone I can see, hear and touch however, extends mercy to me...then, in that one courageous and loving act, I am finally able to understand something of what God continually shows me every single day of my life.

“We are living letters read of all men...” is how the Apostle Paul put it, and there is no more profound expression of God's love than when it is shown through another human being.  It is the essence of why Jesus was as much a human as He is God.  

I don't deserve any of the grace that I have been shown by people I have offended and hurt: At times I've been stupid, selfish, thoughtless, mindless and any other “lesses” you care to mention.  But that's the whole point of grace after all: something loving given in response to something selfish.  These moments of amazing grace inevitably have one simple effect...they show me that God is there, alive and well in the life of another person.  It is then that I cannot help but to fall on my knees and worship the God who takes the time to write me such a beautiful letter in living flesh and blood.

So...to those who have chosen not to burn me at the stake for my selfish actions: thank you. May I  share the mercy you have shown to me and, in turn, be that “Living letter of God's love” to others.