Radical Grace

Jason Malone was our Bible Conference speaker this year (I’ve quoted him in past posts) and a quote that he said has been stuck in my mind ever since:

 “You will never really get involved in people’s lives if your value lies in what they think of you. Because they will turn around and rip your heart out. How do I know? Because it’s been done to me… How do I know? Because I’ve done it to others.”

This line is powerful in that we need to not only look to God for value, but we also need to change our perspective if we are going to get involved in others lives. As someone who hopes to devote her life to empowering others I need to learn how to pour my life into others, but still understand that at times they will turn their back on me.

Grace is a beautiful thing because it is the ability to have that back turned against you and heart torn and still choose to reach out in love. We cannot truly be Christ if we are letting this opinion stop us from sharing love and life. Only someone who really understands how radically beautiful grace is could turn around and continue to love despite pain.

Jesus says the we are to be different from the world, however I think that all to often Christians take that as a challenge to fight against everything we disagree with, rather than be different in how much love and grace we exhibit.

The world tells us to run away from anyone who has hurt us, but if we are putting our value in God and seeing ourselves in his eyes then we will be able to forgive much. We will truly be radical.