Click for Scottish version of Amazing Grace
I went to a crazy event recently. It was an art show about “grace”. All of the art in the show depicted what the artists wanted to communicate about grace.
There was live music. Live poetic readings with background music. There were videos and slide shows. There were potters and painters. There were pots and paintings. And there were lots of people walking around experiencing this multisensory artistic extravaganza.
When we first arrived I was almost giddy with the revelry of the moment – it felt like we had arrived at some hip beatnik slam poetry event. I must say, I felt a little out of my element. I was having flashbacks to Mike Myers Beat Poem in the movie “So I Married an Axe Murderer”.
But then I started to settle into the moment and drink in what was going on, and the depth of what was being communicated. Wow. I was overwhelmed on many fronts. The art was amazing, but what was more compelling was what the artists were saying through their art. One “painting” was a blank canvass – totally white. The plaque underneath it simple said, “Grace is…a clean slate.” Another was a rock surrounded by the waters of a rushing stream, “Grace is…a river.”
Another display was a number of logs of various lengths standing upright with what appeared to be a random gathering of candles on top of them. You were encouraged by a sign to go up to the balcony and look down on the display. When looking from above you could clearly see the candles spelled “grace” – your change in perspective completely changed how you perceived what was going on.
Perhaps what spoke more to me about grace, than the art displays, was the walking art of people’s lives. I had the opportunity to connect with many people I hadn’t seen in quite some time, only to hear of difficulties they had or were still encountering, and how God’s grace was getting them through.
I learned a couple of lessons that evening: 1. Only broken people understand grace. 2. Grace cannot so much be defined, as experienced.
If we don’t know at a deep heart level that we are broken, we never understand our need for God’s grace and how incredibly amazing it is. Grace is poured out on the humble – those who are broken and know they need help.
It’s ok not to be ok.
We’ve probably all heard the standard definitions of grace and mercy as “grace in getting what you don’t deserve and mercy is not getting what you deserve.” There is an element of truth to those, but they are incomplete and simplistic as well. Grace must be experienced to be understood…
Grace to me is akin to a divine enveloping of overwhelming love flooding our being, whispering deep into our hearts, “Everything is going to be ok.” It may not be easy. It may not be pain free. It may not be finished. The resolution may not be quick. But we are not alone. God is with us. God is enough, and because of that everything is going to be alright – we are going to make it through.
So, in the midst of your brokenness; in the midst of your failures and shortcomings; in the midst of the overwhelming circumstances of life, God’s grace is available to you. God’s grace can see you through. God’s grace can envelope you with the love and strength you need to keep going and experience His peace in the midst of the storm.
However, the key that opens the door to grace is humility. God gives grace to those who confess their brokenness, lay down their own agenda and declare their need for Him; then put their trust in Him knowing that He is who He says He is.
Choose humility, turn from insisting on your will your way, cry out to God and then believe He is who He says He is. You will experience His amazing grace in the midst of the storms you are facing. He is enough, and that changes everything.
You are not alone – walk with Him and everything is going to be alright.
Got grace? Only the humble get it.
I Peter 4:5
“…’God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.'”
Matthew 11:28-30
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” (The Message)
II Corinthians 12:9
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”