It’s interesting listening to what different people say about their experiences of it.
I remember being in a small gathering (small in the number of physical occupants, but significantly bigger in other aspects). Someone started singing the hymn, I Stand Amazed. I had heard the hymn a number of times before and was fairly well versed in singing it along with the others as well. Yet, there was this occasion when I heard it sung and it sounded like it really was someone’s experience. As in, I had the chance to hear someone recounting their journey of finding worth only because of His love for them. Their efforts at finding worth proved to be virtually pointless until they came into contact and engaged with the very reality of the love of Jesus.
Not only did they experience this love, they bore witness to how deeply it met with their issues of separation and rebellion from the loving heavenly Father. They saw how Jesus’ love took their burdens on Himself so that they could find life in all its abundance and liberty. They did nothing to deserve it, they did nothing to earn it. Yet it was all done and freely accessible to them if they were to believe it.
Not only did they experience all of this, but they were infused with this love that gave them a great hope – a hope that one day they would see their faith become sight and everything they’ve been living for in the light of Him would be fully realised. Then for eternity they would enjoy this love.
It wasn’t just song lyrics and a little emotional ride enjoying the vibe of a tune. This was the communication of somebody’s real life journey taking the past, present and future and expressing it in one neatly packaged aspiration.
For me that is where it began. It wasn’t about getting caught up in a control gimmick or a means to get certain things from a heavenly cash machine. It wasn’t about feeling pride in a position or a project.
It was a living encounter with a saving grace, with a life-giving grace, with a family-developing grace, with a Jesus-centred grace that arrested me. That told me there was no need to keep beating myself up about my failings. That there was no need to persist in the cycle of defeat. That there was available a love that would raise me up and help me help others up from despair and hopelessness.
Since then, it’s been my joy to see other people have their own beginnings and stories of where it began for them. It continues to be my joy to be a part of a life with others that is ever taking opportunities to share the news of this wonderful and amazing grace and the Saviour’s love for us.
(Photo by Japheth Mast on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 