Facing Covid 19: Daily Words of Grace – Aug 18

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Shadows.

We may only see Shadows

But they point to the Light.

Psalm 100:5

For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures for ever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Titus 3:4-5

But when the goodness and loving-kindness of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Words of Grace For Today

We try so hard. In life we try so hard to make life turn out our own way.

God moved with love to save us. God did not wait for us to do what is right. God jumps right into the middle of all our plans and rescues us from our wretched sins, sets us back into good life, and calls us to be the instruments of Grace for others.

Amazing Grace. You know the story most likely of John Newton, ships’ captain who loaded slaves in Africa and delivered them into the New World. God reached out and touched his heart. He gave up slave trading and became a pastor. He penned the hymn, Amazing Grace, as an expression of profound and utter thanks for what God had done for him, saving himself from his life of sin, carrying for profit people carried as cargo with little care for their survival or decency or that they are humans.

There are many ways in every age that we treat other people cruelly, demeaning them, as less than human; all to think that somehow we are better than others. Ahh, the sin in it, which destroys our victims, so many bystanders, and even ourselves.

We may Gaslight, scapegoat, and falsely convict others, not once, but over and over again. Even then God reaches out to us and offers us new life, life renewed, life based on truth, and dependent on God’s goodness, loving-kindness, mercy, steadfast love, and faithfulness – for generation upon generation.

From our wretched existence God rescues us.

God loves us unconditionally, when we deserve nothing, not even the breath we breathe.

If we are fortunate, we will have time in life to learn to share God’s goodness, loving-kindness, mercy, steadfast love, and faithfulness with all people in for our generation.