amazing grace

During the sermon on Sunday night, Todd Phillips (our teaching pastor at Frontline) quipped, "Christianity isn't a sin management program." I think I immediately said, "AMEN!" Despite it's simplicity, this statement couldn't be more profound. Christianity isn't about getting things right, because, at the end of the day, we're all screw ups who (apart from God) can't get it right. No, Christianity is about being loved by and falling in love with the Creator of the universe and having a real, vibrant relationship with the living God.

With that in mind, I want to try to tell you why I know (not just in my head, but in my heart) Christianity to be so much more than "getting life right." This testimony has been a lifetime in the making, but I'm going to focus mostly on the past year, a year in which God has fundamentally changed my faith. Honestly, I'm not sure this is something I'm going to be able to verbalize very well, as I've had trouble explaining it even to close friends. And, given my tendency to be overly verbose, I'm going to go with a four point approach. 

It all started last spring, when I prayed, "Lord, help me to know that I know that I know." Had I had any clue about the refining fire the Lord would put me through to convert 22 years of head knowledge into real heart knowledge and real faith, I may have prayed a little differently. Thankfully, God loves me beyond measure despite the fact that I'm an irreparable screw up. Without further ado then, the four big things God has taught me in the past year (and in a lot of ways is continuing to teach me)...

Lesson #1. At my core I am a sinner and not just a person who sins

Lesson #2. God's grace and healing surpasses sufficiency (and my understanding)

Lesson #3. God has equipped me with a rare amount of compassion

Lesson #4. God is teaching me how to love people like he does (and I kind of still suck at it)

The summary of all of this aligns pretty well with my favorite Christian songs of the moment by the David Crowder Band, "How He Loves." We have a God that loves us so much and there isn't an adjective to adequately describe how amazing it is. So, I'm going to use the next four blogs to dive into each of these a little more deeply and hope that the excitement and passion God has grown up in me for Himself translates better than I anticipate. In the meantime, I'm praying Paul's words for each of you:

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family on heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with the saints, to grasp how wide and how long and how high and how deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19