Can we afford Cheap Grace

"The bane of American church is consumer Christianity, comfortable Christianity, easy-cheesy-cotton candy Christianity, the low grade Christianity of what's in it for me?"  I love this! Bumper sticker theology! Ugh. 

The author goes on - This diluted Christianity offers a certain solace to the individual but is anemic before the principalities and powers of entrenched evil.

Cheap Grace is the deadly enemy of the church.

Cheap grace seems to exemplify the big box church that wants to make us comfortable. If church is comfortable, and feeds our perception that, I'm not perfect, just forgiven, then we might "Comfortably" open our wallets to pay for that grace. I have seen these easy churches absolutely explode in size and budget. I have also felt empty when associated with those churches. If to be Christian means to radically Forgive, to REALLY forgive similar to the AMISH forgiveness, THEN I have some work to do. I like the idea of Church being a bit uncomfortable, this is not a new concept, but to be radically forgiven means I must begin to radically forgive.

This book has really opened my mind to some tough concepts on where I need to be, where I need to go. This isn't just a bit uncomfortable. This isn't an acknowledging nod when Pastor Walt leads the corporate prayer and says help me to forgive my enemies. This is a full out assault on my sensibilities. To fully forgive enemies, people who hurt me, people who I do not want to be around or associated with, this will take an exhaustive effort on my part. This is not Cheap Grace. This is not bumper sticker theology. This not becoming Christian, this IS BEING Christian. Can I pick up my cross and follow Jesus? I can try. Can i forgive my enemies? I can try. Can I follow the example of Amish Grace? Whew, I can try.

God, Please help this imperfect knucklehead transform into a loving, forgiving christian who is willing to love and forgive my enemies, to take up my cross, to not just go the extra mile, but take my enemy on my back and walk an extra ten, to not forgive seven times but seven times seven. As i work on improving my daily spiritual life, to ask for God's will be done, for an intuitive thought when I am scatter brained, for clarity when the world is muck, now I realize, an integral part of this puzzle is Forgiveness.

If I can completely Forgive my worst enemy, where will fear be?

This Radical Forgiveness take fear out of the equation. Without that fear, many other issues and emotions are moot. For me, anger is an over reaction to cover up fear. This forgiveness is a stone I must through in the pond and watch the ripples flow from it.

Forgiveness, Really?

Forgetting is not essential in forgiving because the memory of injustice does not require that we eternally lust for revenge. (pg 66) This, tied with the parable of the debtor who is forgiven an HUGE debt but refuses to forgive and the author goes on to define forgiveness not just as allowing the debtor to not pay but, to absorb the debt.  Forgiveness, to me, means I absorb the debt, process it, write it of in the books but, perhaps do not allow that sum of debt to be owed by THAT person again. Whoever started the saying, "Forgive and forget?" When Googled, the phrase lead me to a Christian page that has 8 quotes from the New Testament about Forgiveness but explicitly does not find anything in the Bible that tells us we have to forget. However, there is another hyperlink to a site where Oprah has 8 simple ways to help us forgive and forget. I'm following the later, Saint Oprah will straighten God out when He comes to her (www.oprah.com/spirit/8-Ways-to-Forgive-and-Forget ). So, Forgive -yes; forget - not mandatory.  Further on, the author writes about Joseph's amazing forgiveness and the fear his brothers lived in because they lived in the world of paybacks and revenge. He goes on to state, "It is only because Joseph chose to forgive that the Bible has a future' Only because Joseph chose to absorb the injustice, forgiving his brothers, and move forward but trusting God can God's project of redemption through the seed of Abraham move forward." WOW!  Had Joseph chose revenge, evil wins. It occurs to me that when people in power, seek power to invoke their will, and are then unseated by another who seeks power for the same reason but under different pretense, the real winner is Evil. Evil just changes it's mask to appeal to a greater audience. The mask it wears at the time is simply the allure of power. It requires forgiveness, in its truest form, to unmask the power of evil, or is it the evil of power? May my revenge be to forgive, may my faded memory be my redemption.