I like this picture. It looks like the same picture I have in my previous post, but it's dramatically different. This pictures has a cross in it. See it? I love it. It's so beautiful.
So for the past two days I have not worked because I have been sick, so I sit here in my room waiting to go to the doctor to see if I have strep. It's actually been quite boring, but I have been able to get a lot of things done: writing letters to people, paying a credit card bill, and reading. I finished reading "Desiring God" by John Piper yesterday. I really enjoyed reading that book, and although some people have trouble getting through it, it wasn't difficult for me, it made a lot of sense. And now I've been reading "What's So Amazing About Grace?" by Philip Yancey. The first few chapters were a little slow, but by chapter 4 I started loving this book. I think God really opened my eyes to what grace really means. Grace is unfair. It isn't just at all! Think about it?! And forgiveness is not fair either, it is so unnatural to our human nature.
Philip Yancey says that "forgiveness is an act of faith. By forgiving another, I am trusting that God is a better justice-maker than I am. By forgiving, I release my own right to get even and leave all the issues of fairness for God to work out. I leave in God's hands the scales that must balance justice and mercy" (93). No wonder! Forgiving someone means that justice won't be served at that time and that things won't feel fair. We live in a world dominated by ungrace and justice and so our defaulted human nature says that if we are wronged the person that wronged us must pay. But God does not want that from us, He wants us to forgive and trust Him in being the just God that He is.
Grace is such a beautiful thing. It is a precious gift.
