Grace based

I like to refer to our church as grace based.  That is over and against "guilt based."  The phrase "grace based" is an unfamiliar term to many and will bring up questions from time to time.

One friend was listening to KLOVE and shared with me some of what Francis Anfuso was teaching.  Here it is:

Receiving God’s Grace

Can you imagine being given an amazing present and never opening it? Sadly, it happens every day in the lives of most people. The Bible says, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled…” Who wants to flunk being forgiven? Who wants to fail to obtain the grace of God? Who wants to walk around bitter, like a plague looking for a place to happen? I don’t want to have a chip on my shoulder that will eventually make me act like a chump. One of the most important disciplines you’ll need to learn in life is receiving the grace to be forgiven, to forgive yourself, and to learn to forgive others as well.

My response went like this:

Thanks for the note.

All of that is very well said…….

 Regarding the root of bitterness – when we are thinking of how messed up someone is or how messed up of our work office is, a root of bitterness can spring up.  But when we are thinking of the amazing miracle of grace, our hearts have no room for bitterness.

I like to explain a grace based church this way…………. Grace is from God and restores us to God.  Grace based churches have standards, but we choose to focus on the remedy, not the sin.  We choose to focus on the way forward, the way out of a mess.  Sin is real and it must be acknowledged, but if we get stuck there, thinking about it, talking about it all the time,  our lives no longer glorify God nor draw others to him.  Grace, if we let it, will pull us out of ourselves and towards our loving father.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.