I Remember

I remember teaching faith and living by faith when I first came to know Jesus. There was never any doubt, for myself or my wife, that faith moved the hand of God. We experienced Gods love and provision in our lives and saw it manifest in the lives of people around us and today there is no difference.

I remember hearing "Name it and claim it" and "Blab it and grab it" from "religious" people. People who insisted that God's will for us was to eventually fulfill our needs solely on our religious track record. Penance and lack were the only real avenues to God. 

Preaching that God is testing us, leaving sickness and lack to cause us to "suffer" for Him while singing "Amazing Grace."

They continue preaching each Sunday that, somehow, suffering would cause Him to love us more. Some still hold to this position, some even preach that very same message each week and their church's are emptying.

Coming to the astonishing truth of God's grace and realizing the consequence of that grace, Gods unmerited forgiveness and love, brings with it the same (type of) response. "Oh, you're one of those 'grace' people (used to be 'one of those faith people') who preach Grace." "Don't you know you're giving people a 'license to sin'?" To which, my usual answer is, "I never needed a license to sin." "Where can I pick one up?" "Does that license protect me from punishment or the outcome of sin better than the cross of Jesus Christ?" "How much is this license?" "Was it purchased for me or do I get one at the DMV?" "Does this license sit at the right hand of the Father?" "Does it make intercession for me?" "Does it remove my sin as far as the east is from the west?" "Does it cause God to remember my sins no more?" "Is it stamped in the blood of my Savior?"

"No?"

"Then I don't need it, I'm imperfect and forgiven through Jesus through the grace of God."

That, for some anyway, usually shakes there thinking enough to see an opportunity for God to unveil all that is associated with grace, and then, we usually hug each other.