Cherish Grace

Cherish Grace

I am on my third reading of a book I highly recommend: "Living the Cross-Centered Life" by C.J. Mahaney. In fact, I am so enamored with the concept that the cross, the gospel, must remain primary, central and immediate in our thinking that we are using this book during our Monday night Higher Ground meeting this spring. The basic premise of the book is that we never move on, outgrow or mature beyond the cross. The centrality of the cross in the life of a believer fosters a deeper, richer understanding of grace. I want that! Do you?

Early one Saturday morning, I was reading Chapter Seven: "Your Face in the Crowd." Referencing Matthew 27:15-17, Mahaney makes this statement: "Pilate offers the gathered crowd a choice between Jesus and a 'notorious prisoner'-a terrorist named Barabbas." I stopped short at the word terrorist. A word used with some familiarity in the last decade. It occurred to me that I would have a clearer understanding if I put it in contemporary terms. So go with me, if you will, on a brief journey in our sanctified imaginations:

You and I have followed the growing crowd all day. There is murmuring, shouting and crying. Women weeping, men silent with fists clenched and eyes steeled. This man Jesus, whom we have heard preach, is gentle and kind. He speaks with such authority we are often amazed. Yet, last night He was arrested and now, we stand amidst the crowd as Pilate addresses the throng. "Whom do you want me to release to you? Osama Bin Ladin1 or Jesus who is called the Christ." The murmur grew with great intensity as we hear a ripple-effect throughout the crowd, "Osama! Osama! Osama!" You and I look at one another, and join our voices with those of the crowd. "Osama! Osama! Osama!" we chant. Pilate cries out: "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" (We) all said to him, "Let Him be crucified!"2

I hope I have not offended you with my illustration, for that was not at all my intention. Beloved, hear my heart. I want us to embrace grace in all its fullness. I believe in order to do that we must understand OUR part in the cross. We are not innocent bystanders; we were active participants in the events that day. We would have asked for Osama Bin Ladin to be released rather than Jesus Christ! "Unless you see yourself standing there with the shrieking crowd, full of hostility and hatred for the holy and innocent Lamb of God, you don't really understand the nature and depth of your sin or the necessity of the cross."3

It is when we have an accurate view of our own sin that the beauty of grace is most precious. Like a diamond against a piece of black velvet. "Only those who are truly aware of their sin can truly cherish grace."4Cherish grace today. --Diane Hunt is the Director of Addiction Recovery Ministries

1 I chose Osama Bin Ladin because, in American minds, he is probably the most notorious terrorist in the 21st century.2 Matthew 27:223 Mahaney, page 874 Mahaney, page 88