What's So Amazing About Grace? (1997) by Philip Yancey
What's so good about this book?
Yancey ignites my understanding of God's grace and challenges me to be a
dispenser of grace in my life and faith. When my friend died due to cancer, I
was very frustrated but God helps me through Yancey's writing to "wrestle
with God" as Jacob did when I read Where
Is God When It Hurts? When I was having the crisis of faith regarding
the historicity of Jesus' and the Bible, one of the books that helped me was The
Jesus I Never Knew. I'm not a Yancey fan or have read every book by him,
but when I do, it is timely. The same goes with What's So Amazing About
Grace? When I read it, I reflect on myself and there were times
(recently) when I'm un-graceful toward others. I called myself Christian, that
means I'm the recipient of God's grace for the Scripture says "by
grace you have been saved, through faith" (Ephesians 2:8) and yet,
I'm behaving like morally-righteous believer. This book is easy to read, but
hard to swallow. It is old yet still urgent. It is intellectually satisfying
but with a cost: by God's Spirit, I can and must reveal the grace the world is
searching for!
When Nicky Gumbel asked "What
is grace?" during an interview, Philip Yancey said that he tries to
explain it throughout the book, but if he were to give a definition, he said
and wrote in this book: "Grace means there is nothing I can do to
make God loves me more and nothing I can do to make God love me less. It means
that I, even I who deserve the opposite, am invited to take my place at the
table in God's family." I love this definition. Grace doesn't
depend on what we have done for God but rather what God has done for us. We can
read about this truth all over the New Testament. It's not new! "In
Christian theology," explains Yancey, "Jesus reversed [the]
ancient pattern: when the servants erred, the King was punished. Grace is free
only because the giver himself has borne the cost." Grace, the last
best word, is so desperately needed in the world today.
The church, of all places, has abused
this truth. Sadly, some (if not, most) churches communicate un-grace by how we
treat sinners (of different kinds), apply laws and moral legalism, judgmental
and by its lack of unity. In the book, Yancey points out about his childhood
church (I recommend reading his shorter book entitled Church:
Why Bother?) was very racist, and other heart-breaking stories that
people who have been and are in the church today reading this book would agree
to some degree. I'm part of the church and so, I too, act in un-grace ways. Christians
are more concern (rightly so) about homosexuality than divorce; attending
religious activities than attend to AIDS patients; and quick to judge with open
eyes than to listen with open ears. There are times for everything – love
and hate, justice and mercy, forgiveness and punishment – but the church must
remember that "dispensing God's grace is the Christian's main
contribution." “…The world can do anything the church can do except
one thing – it cannot show grace.”
Yancey also shares great examples of
Christian ministers and churches that have the Jesus' distinguishing mark
– not political correctness or moral superiority but – LOVE. I believe
homosexuality is sin and so does divorce which is very prevalent in
Christianity today. Abortion is another issue. Woman preaching in the church
issue recently where John MacArthur, a Bible teacher, told Beth Moore, a Bible
Study author, to "go home." What is this? As Yancey advice in
the book and so here I say: we Christians can have firm views about ethical
behavior or bold stand about the theological matter but we MUST demonstrate
love foremost. Love allows us to be compassionate, vulnerable and empathy.
When the church displays God's love and grace first without discounting justice
and sin, we show the world: the real Jesus. The One who the world hate
and at the same time attracted to. This statement by Yancey is so powerful:
"The world thirsts for grace. When grace descends, the world falls
silent before it." Amen!
There are so many lessons
that I learned from this book. I've underlined and made notes. I will reread it
(together with the newer book, 2014, Vanishing Grace). Yancey is such a
good story-teller. Although he is a journalist, I see him as a theologian.
Usually, when I read a book, I research it: read articles, reviews, listen to
podcast interviews and YouTube videos. Some people disagree with Yancey
and some of his writings are controversial. No write is flawless. With that
said, I want to recommend fully this book especially to Christian leaders who
have greater influence in shaping the way people think about the Church and
Christianity in general. If you've been hurt by the un-grace believers, read
this book too. In fact, come back to God or draw near to Him. Remember this:
"There is nothing [you] can do to make God love [you] more. There is
nothing [you] can do to make God loves [you] less."
THINK BIG. START
SMALL. GO DEEP.
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