marvelous, extraordinary, wonderful, amazing grace

Years ago, during a faith-defining point in my life, I read the book, "What's So Amazing About Grace?" by Philip Yancey. This book opened my soul to the true concept of grace.

Last week, while browsing at the library, I stumbled across a version of the book in a graphic design format. It took the words from the book and made them into art. Through re-reading this book in a different format, grace flooded my soul again. Here are some of the thoughts that overwhelmed me when I realized once again how amazing grace truly is.

1) On one of the pages, there was this silver foil square that represented a mirror. On the page, the artist had written "See the one God loves." But when I looked into the "mirror", my reflection was warped. I realized that I will never see myself in the way God does. I see my flaws and ugliness where God sees me as his child who he loves beyond measure. I sometimes see my messiness as a reason that God would not want to love me but I realize he sees it and that is why he does love me.

2) Pointing out my sin is not God meaning to make me feel guilty but actually to point out my chains in order to liberate me. I actually do not think the feeling of guilt is from God. I believe guilt is different from conviction. Guilt makes us want to hide our chains in shame whereas conviction allows us to acknowledge the chains and eventually be free from them.

3) In the book, the question is asked, "What is Christianity all about?" The answer - "We are all bastards but God loves us anyway." Think about it.

4) Another question in the book - "Who does God love more - the murdered or the murderer?" The amazing aspect of grace is its unfairness. God loves us regardless. The thing with grace is there is nothing more I can do to make God love me and there is nothing less I can do to make God love me.

5) For when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). We were sinners and he did it anyhow without guarantee that we would ever accept his gift. Or in Ephesians 2, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”

6) "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound"...what is it you hear?


Often, when God’s grace overwhelms me, I am confronted with the lack of grace I show to others. I think the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, "Lord, make me an instrument of your peace" could be paraphrased to "Make me an instrument of your grace". Imagine seeing people how God sees them.