It's All About that Grace, 'bout that Grace, 'bout that Grace

Luke 24:1-6
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,  but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen! 

After the spring plows turned the dirt in the fields, my family and I would walk the rows searching for arrowheads. While everyone else in my family seemed to have a knack for finding tips and pieces of flint tools I wandered off, as most little girls would, to find shiny, pretty stones. I got especially excited when I found a rock with "glitter."

But my childish excitement for a sparkly rock diminishes in comparison to the awe Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome must have felt the day they found a stone, or should I say "the stone" rolled away from Jesus' tomb. After witnessing their friend's terrible death on Friday, they'd gone home and rested on the Sabbath before they'd prepared the spices needed to anoint Jesus' body. On Sunday morning, they gathered their supplies and walked to the tomb. The book of Mark reports that the women wondered who might roll away the huge stone that blocked the entrance to Jesus' burial place. But when they arrived, WOW! the huge rock had been rolled to the side of the tomb. And their beloved friend was gone. Not stolen, not placed in another cave, but gone, of his own volition.

And those angels, those wonderful good-news bringing, dressed in white angels, shared the fantastic news with those precious ladies that Jesus had conquered death. Blessed Jesus died a cruel death so that I might live forever. Then God raised him up and breathed life back into him. Can you feel the amazement and excitement? I can. Are you overwhelmed with the mercy and grace Jesus poured out? I am. Praise God for this beautiful joy-filled reason we celebrate Easter.

Rejoice in the Lord! He is risen!!!

Gravity and Grace

2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

©Penny Frost McGinnis

I just finished reading Cynthia Rutchi's, As Waters Gone By. It's a tale of love, fear, confusion and forgiveness; one of the best stories I've read in a long time. As sometimes happens, a particular line in the book caught my attention. "Grace always outweighs gravity." Wow! That's one I want to remember. The times I need to cling to grace the most, I'm down, fallen due to sin, down and depressed, physically down, exhausted and not thinking clearly, and on and on.

The apostle Paul knew this secret and told everyone about it in his writings. He fell down, was tempted, and at times physically exhausted. He knew what it meant to cling to Jesus promise. "My grace is sufficient." No matter what I go through, I know I can cling to the grace Jesus gives me tied to my hope in him. Through Jesus' power I can rest on him and be strong. Praise God for his gift of grace.

It Blows Me Away

Luke 23:44-46
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Luke 24:36-39
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

Thunder crashed in the distance, dark skies repelled daylight, and rain pelted over the ground. Good Friday morning, I found myself thinking about the day Jesus died. As I drove in the downpour I wondered why God loved me so much. I'm not perfect like his son. I'm not even good all the time. Yet God sent his son as a sacrifice for my imperfections, my sin. Because he loves me.

That blows me away. Sometimes I can't even comprehend the difference Jesus made in my life. He lived as a human, died at the hands of sinners, and came back to life because he wants to pour his grace over anyone who chooses to believe. As Easter nears, I praise God for the resurrection of Jesus.