God's Grace

    Part of the plan for this mission's trip was that Skyler and I would go through a couple of books together in the mornings.  Every morning we journal about the previous day, go through a couple chapters of the Bible, read through a chapter of the book we're going through together, then discuss it and pray.  The book we are currently going through is called "Abba's Child" by Brennan Manning.  The book talks about God's grace, and how it's so easy as Christians to misinterpret it.
    One of the biggest lies Satan feeds the modern world is that our flaws are useless and that Jesus doesn't love us as much when we sin.

    "God is relentlessly tender and compassionate toward us just as we are--not in spite of our sins and fault (that would not be total acceptance), but with them.  Though God does not condone or sanction evil, he does not withhold His love because there is evil in us." Manning 20

     The idea that God does not love or accept us when we are sinning is a lie from Satan.  On the contrary, God can use our sin and brokenness to share his love with others.  Manning uses a one-act play by Thornton Wilder titled "The Angel that Troubled the Waters" in order to get this point across.  The play dramatizes the power of the pool of Bethesda to heal whenever an angel stirred its waters.

   " A physician comes periodically to the pool hoping to be the first in line and longing to be healed of his melancholy.  The angel finally appears but blocks the physician just as he is ready to step into the water.  The angel tells the physician to draw back, for this moment is not for him.  The physician pleads for help in a broken voice, but the angel insists that healing is not intended for him.
    The dialogue continues-- and then comes the prophetic word from the angel:  "Without your wounds where would your power be?  It is your melancholy that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men and women.  The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living.  In Love's service, only wounded soldiers can serve.  Physician, draw back
    Later, the man who enters the pool first and is healed rejoices in his good fortune and turning to the physician says: "Please come with me.  It is only an hour to my home.  My son is lost in dark thoughts.  I do not understand him and only you have ever lifted his mood.  Only an hour. . . . There is also my daughter: since her child died, she sits in the shadow.  She will not listen to us but she will listen to you." Manning 28

    God can use the broken parts of our lives in order to help other people.  Instead of hiding our flaws, we should be using our flaws as a tool to share God's love and grace with the world.  In the case of the physician, he isn't even healed, yet he can share his problems to help other people.  If you have been healed, think of how much you can use that story to proclaim the grace of God!
    When discussing the first chapter of this book, Skyler and I talked about how sometimes it can be hard to fully comprehend the grace of God.  We are continuously praying that God will keep revealing his grace to us.  We're still trying to figure out how God can use our flaws to show his love to others.
    -Chase and Skyler