Rules

I was brought up that there were rules that we HAD to follow. And I’ve always been fastidious in following the rules.

There were the 10 Commandments. There were the traffic rules. There were the rules that my Southern Baptist Grandfather made my Mother and Aunt follow when we visited his house. The school we attended had a unique set of rules.

Then I got “saved” and I got a new set of rules to replace the set I had had. Now, it seems that God had new expectations of me.

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. Jn 14:21 NIV

So if I am to show God I love Him, I have to obey Him – right? A friend of mine commented that “Patrick, we are just a bunch of control freaks who are looking for the right rules to follow.” That resonated with me.

Grace

Then I discovered GRACE!

Paul Zahl has the best definition of grace that I’ve found,

“What is grace? Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unloveable. It is being loved when you are the opposite of loveable. … Grace is one-way love.” [Grace in Practice p.36 affiliate link]

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Our deepest desire & our deepest fear

Usually, pastors will take a few weeks off during the Summer. To fill their pulpits in their absence, they get a substitute speaker.

This “substitute” preacher gives a message that blew me away. (it is 33 minutes and you’ll be glad you spent on it)

Known and Loved | Jono Linebaugh from Coral Ridge | LIBERATE on Vimeo.

I listened to it twice today. I’ll probably listen to it some more later this week.

Yes – it’s that good.

What did you think?