What makes Christianity so unique?
March 1, 2010 by Paddy Burrow
C.S. Lewis once arrived late to a meeting in which the participants were engaged in a lively discussion about what makes Christianity so unique. Unable to agree, they were hotly debating the relative merits of the Incarnation (God became man) and the Resurrection (Jesus rose from the dead) as to which was the most distinctive characteristic of Christianity. When Lewis learned what the reason for the rumpus was, he immediately commented: “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace.” The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8, “By grace you have been saved.”
What is this grace spoken of in the Bible? This saving grace? Kenneth Hagin once said: “Grace is God’s fierce determination to forgive us our sins so that no barrier remains on His side between God and mankind. Even if man could invent a new sin not even described in the Bible, God would extend His grace to cover that sin, too, so determined is He to forgive us and to have fellowship with us.”
The barriers between God and us are always on our side, folks. And FEAR is one of the main culprits. We SHOULD have a reverential fear of the One Who made us and Who can carry us to Heaven or cast us into Hell after we’ve breathed our last breath.
But we should also understand that He is the same God Who completely redeemed us by fulfilling every jot and title of the law, and then by giving us His very righteousness as a FREE GIFT, so that we could be forever reconciled to Him.
Thus, He relieves the fears His awesomeness creates in us by demonstrating His loving-kindness and great compassion at Christ’s cross. The fellowship we thus enjoy with Him transcends any joy we have on earth. And as we properly fear God, we learn that we need fear nothing else, not even death.
Webster defines grace as being “unmerited favor of God toward man” and “divine influence acting in man”. How wonderful if we would all choose to live “under the influence” of our loving God and His amazing grace!
Acronyms help me remember meanings of words. Here’s one I made up for G.R.A.C.E.: “Guaranteed Righteous As Christ Eternally”.
When God looks at us, if we’ve accepted His free gift of salvation through His Son, He sees Jesus, His Perfect Son!
We’re clothed in the righteousness of Christ and loved unconditionally. He has adopted us as His own and enjoys hearing our voices lifted in prayer to Him as much as He enjoys conversations with Jesus!
We are joint heirs with Christ of everything God owns! What a privilege to be children of the best Father in the universe!!
This spring, as flowers pop up all over and turn their faces towards the sun, let’s turn our own hearts towards Heaven’s Son. Let’s receive God’s grace, extend it to others and not quit until the whole world is filled with love! Look around you. Does someone you know need a little kindness today? Get busy!
Comment online @ valleybugler.com! Paddy Burrow lives in Silverlake with her husband, Rick, and their three pets, Pumpkin, Patches and Gigi. She enjoys feedback from her readers and can be reached evenings at 360-274-5231
How convenient you theology is! You can lie all day, you can spend your life bearing false witness, you can betray your fellow humans in every moment of your being…but, hey, you’ve got Grace! you can support crooked political preachers all you like, you can destroy your country, you can contribute to the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of souls WHO WERE NOT READY TO GO and all you have to do is trot out your little ditty about GRACE! No responsibility for you at all, is there? You can remain a child in the negative sense, a desructive and ignorant spiritual toddler. Meanwhile, the world descends into flame. But what do you care? You have GRACE.
Pyotr: Paddy Burrow would like to respond, but could not get the link to work, so she sent this to me via eMail. Thank you,
Michelle Myre
Editor
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My response to the comment:
Dear Precious One who took time to comment on my column: Thank you. Thank you so very much for taking time out to not only read but also to comment on my article.
I am so very sorry for all the pain you have experienced in your lifetime and if I have personally caused any of it, please, please forgive me. I also want to apologize for anyone else who has hurt you but who has not yet been willing or able to ask for your forgiveness, especially for anyone committing crimes against you or your loved ones in the name of Christianity, such as in the “Holocaust”! (The real Jesus and His real followers would never have approved!)
I can tell your tender heart is broken with grief over the state of our world, and I share your enormous pain and fight tears all day long when I think of the atrocities we humans do to one another.
But the grace of God IS real. I experienced it myself for the first time when I was “born again” at 27 and was finally able to understand that Jesus loved me despite my horrible past and my tendency to do nothing BUT sin! And His AMAZING grace and forgiveness helped me CHANGE. And to become more and more likely to do something KIND instead of CRUEL. I don’t even recognize when or how it happened, but I know it did. And God’s grace is WHY!
I pray for you, my dear fellow human being, that the God of peace and comfort will wrap His arms around you and hold you close and never, never let you go. May you experience His grace this very day!
Your friend,
Paddy Burrow