Wonderful Grace of Jesus

Last Sunday during worship I had the pleasure of being reminded of the great hymn "Wonderful Grace of Jesus".   The melody of this hymn is upbeat, but it's the message that truly tugged at my heart:

Wonderful grace of Jesus,
Greater than all my sin;
How shall my tongue describe it.
Where shall its praise begin?
Taking away my burden,
Setting my spirit free,
For the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me.

That's the wonderful fact of the grace of Jesus,  it's greater than my sin!  It's greater than the sins of the worst sinner, and His righteousness is imputed to me, my sins were then imputed to Him.  This is the great exchange between me and Jesus,  now my righteousness isn't mine, it's Christ's in me.  I now have liberty, but my desire isn't to do sin, but to follow The One who did so much for me.

The chorus sums up the emotional response:
Wonderful the matchless grace, the matchless grace of Jesus,
Deeper than the mighty rolling sea, the rolling sea;
Wonderful grace, all-sufficient for me, for even me.
Broader than the scope of my transgressions,
Greater far than all my sin and shame;
O magnify the precious name of Jesus, 
Praise His name!

That should be my response each and every day!

Consider listening to this hymn today, even sing along...  It's powerful!

Care for my Neighbor

At our church, we are going through a study which is making us take some introspective views of how we live our lives. Last week the discussion surrounded around the idea of who is my Neighbor? Jesus during his ministry was asked what is the greatest commandment, and Jesus responded with "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Of course the next question this guy (who happened to be a lawyer) "So who is my Neighbor?" Who do I love more than myself?

• My Family? Of course that's a given
• My Friends? Of course that's easy
• My Boss? Sure, He's a nice guy
• My Neighbor? When I see them, they seem to be nice (as they drive into their garage and shut the door)
• How about the child who needs a foster home?
• How about the shut-in lady down the street with all those cats?
• How about the lady that you knew, who's in the nursing home?
• The Hairy guy on the corner holding the sign "will work for food"?
• How about the guy sitting in a prison cell for armed robbery?

Who is my neighbor? The bigger question is: Who am I called to love more than myself? Who am I willing to selflessly sacrifice so they can have what they need? Who am I willing to leave my comfort zone to reach out towards?

Also on a side note, if you are reading this blog , I would encourage you to write to me with your comments, thoughts and opinions.