What’s So Amazing About Grace 2
“When I say the words ‘evangelical Christian’ what comes to mind?” begins Philip Yancey’s determination of why there seems to be a lack of grace in the church.
There is a connection between shame and grace. We long for grace because of the shame that we have in ourselves. He identifies three common sources of crippling shame.
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Secular culture: A person must look good and feel good
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Graceless religion: Legalism, do right or go to hell
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Unaccepting parents: Never good enough for them
Gracelessness is all around us and is constantly bombarding us with it’s message. What we need to do is intentionally look for and experience grace in God’s presence. God intended for us to discover His loving presence in the world around us; in a rainbow after a summer storm, in a woman with wind blown hair, in a beautiful sunset, or in Beethoven’s ninth symphony just to name a few things.
As we experience grace, we can than pass this along to others. Thus we can begin to bring grace back into the Church, the only place where anyone can truly experience grace.