Amazing grace

Many of us have seen the movie, ‘Amazing Grace’. Woven throughout this story was the way in which the song ‘Amazing Grace’ came into being. The song was written by John Newton, a slave trader, a truly wretched man, who was saved by the amazing grace of God. It is interesting to note that this hymn is not only familiar in churches. I’ve pondered several times as to why such a song is received in such a variety of settings, by artists of all musical genres. Is it the melody? Is it because, deep down, we are all aware of our own wretchedness? Or is it that we crave favour, even though we do not deserve it?

The apostle Paul observed that some among the Christians in Galatia had ‘fallen’ from grace. If I’ve fallen from grace, I have a fallen viewpoint. I see myself as the centre of the universe, a trinity of ‘me, myself and I’, so to speak. I may experience suffering; possibly a betrayal, a rejection, or a sickness. It may or may not be deserved. Nevertheless, my world is not as I feel it should be. I begin blaming everything and everyone, especially God. I curse God and inside I die. It is a wretched state! But then, just maybe, I cry out, ‘O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?’. Rom 7:24.

When I utter that cry, grace comes to restore me. I need it, and it proves to be amazing. When grace is amazing, it’s because this bitter, broken, unloved, rebellious wretch is saved. Amazing grace reveals the unmerited favour of God, common to all who have sinned. But there is more to grace than just saving me. The question is, ‘What am I saved for?’ When I continue in the ‘grace of God’, I experience it beyond ‘undeserved favour’. It soon becomes a personal gift from Christ for my specific work in life to be accomplished. So, let’s now call ‘amazing’ grace, ‘enabling’ grace.

Amazing grace becomes enabling grace, but what about Paul’s discovery of ‘sufficient grace’? Paul pleaded with the Lord three times to remove what he called a thorn in his flesh. Yet God allowed it to remain, declaring, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’. 2Cor 12:9. Paul began to understand that his suffering was for Christ’s sake, and the good of His body, the church. Sufficient grace is not about me, but about a fellowship in Christ’s suffering which births a capacity to care and minister to others.

Suffering is both common and unique to all. So the point we must reach is that there is sufficient grace according to what we are suffering. Our sufferings, be they deserved, common to man, or unique, can all be gathered into the ‘cup’ of Christ’s suffering. They are His sufferings, measured back to us, so that His power is perfected in our weakness.

Ray Jackson

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Feature Articles
November 2008

Understanding your way

The words of eternal life

Every good gift

The song that counts

Be fruitful and multiply

A man who prays

Amazing grace

The secret place

Perspective on tribulation

Bearing the yoke

The problem of evil