Amazing Grace

While my husband was in Saudi Arabia in March, my mother-in-law and I attended an Audio Adrenaline and Mercy Me concert. It was a wonderful show with several moments that stood out to me. But one in particular has stayed with me. When Audio Adrenaline performed their song about being the "hands and feet" of Christ, the lead singer spoke for a moment about what that meant. He said that so often people talk about being Christ's hands and feet, and it gives you "warm fuzzies" and you feel good about such a claim. But what we forget is that Christ's hands and feet were nailed to a cross. They have holes in them, experienced great pain and bled. There were severed nerves. So before we go around saying that we'd like to be the hands and feet of Christ, perhaps we should realize what we're saying. Life is not easy. And living for Christ doesn't automatically make it easy.

There are times when we feel a lot like those "hands and feet". People are cruel. They say and do horrible things. They disrespect us as people. They lie to us and say awful things to or about us. Some of us have been verbally or emotionally abused by people we tried to love. Some of us have been physically abused as well. I know as well as anyone the pain that these cause. I know how horrible it is to have someone question your integrity, your motives, your entire being based simply on what they believe and not any truth. I know how cruel some people can be, saying things they know will cause the most pain possible, and deliberately taking your sadness and compounding it by adding their own ridiculous accusations. We live in a fallen world, and we are often battered. No matter how much we try to live the way we should, to be Christ's hands and feet, we find that people are taken from us, leaving gaping holes, we experience great pain, we bleed and are broken, and often our nerve is severed.

And yet we are called to forgive. Not only to forgive, but to love. Christ's sacrifice enabled us to be forgiven. He endured the pain, the holes, the shame, the false accusations, the cruelty, the lies, the disrespect. And then he forgave us...and loved us. Grace is being given a free gift that you don't deserve. We know that the people who have hurt us leave us with the feeling that they don't deserve to be forgiven. And quite frankly, they don't. But then again, neither did we. And we are called to forgive others the way that Christ has forgiven us. That's a tall order, because Christ doesn't just forgive, he loves. He bestows grace upon the undeserving. And we are called to do the same.

I have a song that's been in my head for weeks now. And it speaks volumes to how I feel about people who have wronged me, past relationships, and just life in general. I thought I would include just the first verse and another small part as they speak so much to the forgiveness we are only able to bestow by the changing of Christ and what grace is all about.

"I wish you could see me now.

I wish I could show you how

I'm not who I was.

I used to be mad at you

A little on the hurt side too

But I'm not who I was.

I found my way around

To forgiving you

Some time ago

But I never got to tell you so"

"Well the thing I find most amazing

In amazing grace

Is the chance to give it out

Maybe that's what love is all about."

(song by Brandon Heath)