Grace Not Always Respected

Lately around town, I have heard the whispers that our fair town is going to crap, rise in crime, tagging, and throw in a natural distaster or two, a lot of people seem to be living on fear vs faith - one thing I have heard is that in a paraphrased form of what everyone has said “God is angry, and he’s gonna do some mad-ass smackdown” - our local dam has a crack and a earthquake could cause it to break and flood the area, and I’d probably be midly soggy.

Though I hear these things said, and they are presented in fear, fear, fear, fear - they always throw in a bit about how more people are going to Church, and yet this doom-and-gloom style stuff continues, and while I know many churches are preaching we are in the “last days”  while that may be the case, I don’t think FEAR should be the ultimate motivator in leading folks to Christ, like many choices in Christian life I don’t think we should allow fear or tradition control how we live our life.

I have been in charge of music at a few churches I have gone to, my background in vocal and instrumental music always got me easily voted in - but my views on things didn’t always keep people happy with me, I had a saying about “Special” music that was sometimes brought during Sunday service - I said “If it happens every week, how is it special?” this has not always set well with some people who were in my singing groups - the classic church road block especially of coming into a church I didn’t grow up in, was “But Chuck, we’ve always done it that way, it’s part of the service” but then call it  “Mid-Morning Song” the word is “Special” and it should be treated as such, not just because its ALWAYS been done should you throw in a tape and read the lyrics from the tape insert, but because God’s touched your heart with a message, with a song, and its bursting from you, not only that but you’ve polished it, you’ve learned it, and its awesome - truly special to not only you, but to those listening - and to God.

I guess my views on Church, my faith, and such are a tad different than some, I was raised in a very “involved” family in the church, from my Grandfather’s Church as a kid, to my dad’s - and while some people would say “Ah, typical PK” - I recall me and my siblings going to a PK Retreat as kids, and it was the stupidest thing I have ever gone to - couselors at the camp were more or less telling us it was alright to hate our dads, and every other kid was complaining about - and this was my laugh of the time there “My dad just out of no where called me to take the offering!” - wow. So harsh that dad of yours - I guess service was raised in me from a young age - but I always wondered what those kids parents wrote them as fathers were to write their kids a letter, which we got while we were away, my dad wrote me a letter which I have to this day, and it wasn’t an apology for making me take the offering, it was encouragement, love, and his view of me growing up.

So were am I going with this post? Grace. God isn’t about raining down fire on our fair little town, but if its what it takes to bring about repetance, then he will use it I suppose, but grace when it comes to God is key. I mean we all deserve death, we all are in sin, born into a world filled of it, but grace is key, grace is what saves us, grace God freely gives - and maybe why I read Jonah again recently - but in this time and issues in Bako this scripture stuck out:

Jonah 4 (The Message)

“I Knew This Was Going to Happen!”

1-2 Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, “God! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness! 3” So, God, if you won’t kill them, kill me! I’m better off dead!”

4 God said, “What do you have to be angry about?”

5 But Jonah just left. He went out of the city to the east and sat down in a sulk. He put together a makeshift shelter of leafy branches and sat there in the shade to see what would happen to the city.

6 God arranged for a broad-leafed tree to spring up. It grew over Jonah to cool him off and get him out of his angry sulk. Jonah was pleased and enjoyed the shade. Life was looking up.

7-8 But then God sent a worm. By dawn of the next day, the worm had bored into the shade tree and it withered away. The sun came up and God sent a hot, blistering wind from the east. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head and he started to faint. He prayed to die: “I’m better off dead!”

9 Then God said to Jonah, “What right do you have to get angry about this shade tree?”
Jonah said, “Plenty of right. It’s made me angry enough to die!”

10-11 God said, “What’s this? How is it that you can change your feelings from pleasure to anger overnight about a mere shade tree that you did nothing to get? You neither planted nor watered it. It grew up one night and died the next night. So, why can’t I likewise change what I feel about Nineveh from anger to pleasure, this big city of more than 120,000 childlike people who don’t yet know right from wrong, to say nothing of all the innocent animals?”

I think a lot of Christian’s have devloped this Jonah additude here in Bako, I am not trying to sit here and say EVERY Christian is in this mix, but many are, God calls us to a work, to a task, and says “Go here, do this” and we get this expectation of EXACTLY God is going to do, but God saw that the people of Nineveh had a change of heart, that they heard his warning of his anger towards them, but in their change of heart he extended grace, and in all honesty Jonah was a instrument of allowing that grace to happen, and yet he ran from it because of how he felt about the people in Nineveh, he ran from the chance to give warning and offer a chance for a 180 from their current way of life - because he didn’t want to allow for grace, so God gave him a view of grace with the tree he provided, and followed up with the Worm - showing in the end its God’s choice what happens, and faith in him is truly the best course.
So this coming week, issue grace to someone,  think of how many times you have been alloted grace for the thing your currently getting hot under the collar for, and extend a break to someone, even if they don’t deserve it, if it’s a waitress who just spilled ketchup on your new white shirt, its just a shirt - it can be washed, restored, and renewed just good as new - or if someone cuts you off on the road, instead of yelling “$$@#!#$!@# driver!” say a prayer for the person’s safety - feel no one has ever cut you slack in similar issues, so you don’t need to offer those same graces? Well humor me, issue them anyway, and see how people react, see how you feel - God has issued all of us great graces for areas of our life, who are we not to extend similar grace to others - respect grace given, and grace recieved, its a gift, and a life changing thing.

Have a Good Weekend Folks. Probably a personal blog later tonight.