Irresistable Grace

I love listening to old people tell stories and talk about their lives. All the years of life on this earth naturally give authority and wisdom to (almost) everything they say. I think the reason their health deteriorates is that their brains are so swollen with information and experience that their bodies just can't keep up. I also think that knowledge is something that grows exponentially- each year you learn more than you had the previous one. That's why they are so dang smart!

Today my friend I had lunch with one of those smart old-people. A person who's seen both beauty and suffering, hope and despair, truth and cowardice, and who chooses to laugh in the face of all that is wrong in this world. A woman who's love for her family sings out with every smile that passes accross her aged face.

This is also a woman who once had plenty but is now struggling financially like so many others we know. Yet despite the diminuation of her former wealth, she never ceases to give extravagantly, and without regret, to those around her. In all her years of experience she has learned, perhaps better than most, that blessings are not intended to be kept for ourselves but rather given away.

This being said, my friend and I were both hesitant when she reached accross the table to give us some cash to spend on ourselves. Our immediate response was "we can't accept this- you've already done more than enough by treating us to lunch- and not to mention, you need it more than we do!"
But I'm telling you, this woman was so adamant, that even Dr. Phil could not have persuaded her to take it back. We had no option but to shyly thank her and and slip it into our wallets.

The feeling I was left with afterwards got me thinking about the nature of grace and what it means to accept the gift that's been given us through Christ's suffering on the cross.
I began to understand that they call His grace irresistable not because we'd never in our right minds want to resist it, but because even if we tried to, we effectively could not. The very nature of this kind of gift forbids our refusal. It's been irrevocably offered; the act has been done and there's no undoing it. And only out of ignorance can we deny what's been given to us as a result.

The unsettling part is that even if we for a moment catch a glimpse in to the filthiness of what we are, and realize how much it should have been us, we can't change the fact that it wasn't. And even if for as much as a second, we comprehend the suffering we deserve, and out of shame plea to endure it ourselves, we can't change the fact that the price has already been paid. (By the way, He's not accepting reimbursements so we can stop beating ourselves up).

So how are we then to respond? With the guilt of having accepted money from someone who should have kept it for themselves? ... With heads hanging low, full the grave awareness of our own status as unworthy, undeserving people?

For heaven's sake, No!

Instead we should be rejoicing! We can't resist the irresistable, so why bother trying? He's not going to take it back! So lift up your heads, all you who bear burdens of shame. Yeah, we don't deserve it, it's against all logic, and it's against our finite definition of justice and fairness. Yet that's the beauty of serving the God of an "upside down" Kingdom.

So let's receieve this irresistable grace with joyful obedience, thanksgiving and praise to Him who has done it.

They will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn-
For he has done it. -Psalm 22:21