Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Exposing Grace
7:18 PM | 
Posted by
Glaiza Samson-Siron |
Credits to Mr. Darby Bognot
Source: Identified Prince
We are 25 in the room and all of us are listening attentively while our Human Resources Class Professor was discussing about the 4 Management perspectives. When she was to discuss about Post-Modernism, she paused for a moment and asked us if we really want to know about the said concept. We insisted. She had second thoughts. For she knows, that by opening this topic up, her class will never be the same again. She is 100 percent sure that we will be thinking differently and will end up formulating liberal ideas. But, we outnumbered her so she had no choice but to tell us.
After discussing the term, her fear became reality. We had paradigm shifts about management in general and started to intellectually critique the statements she is telling us. That day, our professor taught us to think like a graduate school student. It was a challenge for all of us to be a no-nonesense class because we all accepted the post-modernism approach – which purports that MAN should not be influenced by ANY external forces because he is the captain of his own ship. I said to myself, “Welcome to Graduate School”.
What is the relationship of this with grace? Actually the above story is not related to the topic of grace but the paradigm shift I experienced in our Human Resources Class is similar to the time when I have learned what grace is all about. It took me 22 years just to realize this secret.
I kept on telling my friend that GRACE is a difficult topic to write about. It is so huge yet attainable. It is high but at the same time reachable. But, it is really my desire to write about it because I want to record my learning these past days and I don’t want the wisdom to just fly out there in the open. I need to write about it.
The following are my learning about grace:
God blesses us not because we are good but because He is good. As the year 2012 arrived, I listed down my faith goals for the year. I asked for a car, for an Ipad, for travels here and abroad, for new ministries, for good friends, good health, etc. On the other hand, as the year 2012 arrived, I have also done terrible things which are really gruesome and unimaginable. Did he bless me with my goals? Yes. He spoiled me that he even gavemost of my faith goals in a matter of 2 months. Do I deserve it? NO. “God, are you kidding me? Why do you give these things to me instead of punishing me?”.
We humans cannot fathom this concept of grace because we often think that heaven will close its doors for us because we disobeyed God. But God doesn’t work that way. He is not human that He should change his mind (Numbers 23:19). The Bible says in Psalms 103:10 that God doesn’t pay us according to what our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. What a good God we are serving. But hey, does this mean that we can sin whenever we want especially now that we know that GRACE is available for all? The answer is, if we really love Christ, do we still have the guts to sin?
Last week, I attended a certain gathering and the guest preacher shared one of his life changing moments. It was the time when God said to him, “Mahal Kita! Basta” or in English “I love you. Period!” God loves us. Period. No but’s. No why’s. No What if’s.
Only GRACE can help us. One of my friends told me “I want to change myself”. I just said these same words a week ago until I have learned that we cannot change ourselves because only the grace of God can. Trying to change ourselves is a lie. We just simply CANT. My apologies for being straightforward here, but I really want to emphasize this concept of self-help. Self help is no help at all. The only secret to change is the point when we tell God, “Lord, I CANT change! I NEED You to change me. I am tired of giving up. I am tired of this treadmill of sin. I want to experience that genuine change that will only come to you. I want to become the ‘old is gone, new has come’ person you are talking about in your words”. The secret of life is letting go.
1
We are saved not by works (Ephesians 2:8). Another common misconception about life in general is doing good things to justify our sins. Say you lied three (3) times today and you felt guilty about it. So what you did is you(1) read a chapter of the Gospel of John, (2) you bought a bouquet of flowers for your mom and (3) gave a 5peso coin to a blind beggar. How foolish for a man to think that he can save himself through works. The bible says in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved through GRACE and not by WORKS. You might tell me “If that’s the case, then this is easy”. The truth is, God loves us so much he already made everything so simple and easy for us . This happened when God himself came down here through the person of Jesus Christ to die on the cross for us.
Another downside of this matter is when we think we have done enough to justify our sins, we boast about it. I am guilty about this. I have been so self-righteous that I never saw my own flaws and my weaknesses because I am focused on the flaws and weaknesses of other people. If they disappoint me, I get harsh. Unknowingly, I am becoming the “holier than thou” which everybody hates. Again, we need to realize that it doesn’t work that way. We all need to live by grace and to accept the fact that we are all sinners, we are all dead, we are all in need of a savior who can really save.
That is why I am not an advocate of the Filipino Proverb, “Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa”. I believe that there are things which we really can’t do. Rest assured, God will always be there for our rescue, whether we do something or not. In this case, we are all “damsels in distress”.
The day I have learned these concepts is also the day I realized how sinful I am and how holy God is. Upon knowing how sinful we are and how we need Jesus in our lives, we already decided to be crucified with Christ.
To end this article, I would like to share with you the story of the third son in the well-known parable of the PRODIGAL SON (Luke 15:11-32). WE all know that story but we don’t know there’s a third son. Youngest son asked for his share. Father divided his estate. Youngest Son left and lived as a spendthrift. Youngest son experienced poverty and became a slave. Youngest son went back home. Father welcomed him like nothing happened and gave him a kiss, a sandal, a ring, a robe, a fattened calf and a party. Eldest son got mad and jealous. Father said to Eldest son that they need to celebrate because the youngest is home. The End. But in between the story, there’s this third son named Jesus. When the Youngest Son left, the Father asked Jesus to look for his little brother. He is very much willing to leave everything behind just to look for this brother.
Then He was crushed…
He was pierced…
He was crucified…
…Just to find you. He said, “Father, forgive my little brother for he doesn’t know what he is doing”.
Grace.
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About Me
- Glaiza Samson-Siron
- A seeker and lover of our Lord Jesus Christ. A favored princess who is patiently waiting for our King’s promises comes to pass. A child of the Most High God who is hungry and thirsty to our Abba Father’s words. A person who wants to be the person God wants her to be.
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