Grace is Not Supreme

Thanks to the good folks at Christianity Today, I was privileged to read your article, That Grace is not Supreme.  Very interesting.

To qualify my thoughts to follow, I am 85 years of age - and "movin' on", a Christian for many years, but more importantly, introduced to Grace as a topic several years ago. Up until then, I thought of it only as another of the often used terms we hear from our pulpits and seldom seen on the streets where I live.

Then, I met - as I like to say, God, heart to heart, mano mano, man to man., some forty years ago, but until then, most of our "conversations" had o do with His answering my petitions for help..

Then, I was introduced to Grace, answering my most urgent question, "So, I have been "saved" - now what?  Sin had still preoccupied my thought processes and even though, I tried to focus on living up to "Christian" standards, I knew I was failing, daily.

Maybe it was because, there were few gifts I received as a child.  I either promptly ignored them, but I held onto a few for many years.

So, I wondered about this Grace, this gift from God and I wondered if it could help me with the sessions of doubt and yes fear, I had often experienced.

I decided to put it to use.  Rather than another "fall from Grace" I decided to use it as the power by which I could eradicate my tendency to sin.  It seemed to work.  In fact, the more I used it, the more I felt confident that I no longer needed the temptations that had led me to sin.  And over the years since applying my theory, the happier I am with whose I am, and occasions for temptation are few and far apart.

Alas, I have often shared these thoughts with Pastors, learned practitioners of the faith and the best response I have ever received was an occasional, "Bless you, my friend."

When asked if such thoughts are "scriptural" I quickly point to the verse I heard from on high, shortly after my conversion, Acts 1:8 "And you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be My witnesses - wherever, whenever, you move about."  The later is my interpretation of the places mentioned in the text.

It answers the ancient question, Saved yes, but saved for what?"

Sadly, in and around Cookeville, TN, where I live, it is typically answered, "..saved from Hell" but since I never read where Jesus put it that way, I am content to use my version - "saved for good works," in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Would love to hear your response - even by phone, 931-528-7238.

Oh yes, you will find this on my blog - ReflectionsOnALifeWellSpent.blogspot.com

Sherwood MacRae

Is It the times in which we live?

Over the weekend, I had an encounter with a fellow - I wished I could say he is a gentleman, but I that is difficult.  He started me to think more seriously about the conversation and for that reason, I really need to thank him.  Unfortunately, he said what he said and hung up and I cannot do that either.

But I have learned to count my blessings on each and every day I am privileged to be here and I had hardly opened my computer today when I discovered these words of wisdom from my dear friend, Terry Hershey.  He had this to say -

"I am invested here.  I don't even know where this will take me.  Regardless, I am invested here." 

I keep such sayings and in this case, it comes close to being my creed - every since May 12, 1975

My real investment in life comes from  the fact that I recognize, I was born with two ears and two eyes, but only one mouth.

In this fellow's case, I used my two ears to hear and was fortunate that I could not use my mouth.

All of this started with an article a friend of mine contributed to our local newspaper.   He has a weekly column on the Religion page of our local newspaper and he dares to say what he sincerely believes.  I know that because he is not only my friend, he is also my Pastor.  I said as much in a letter to the editor explaining why I had been offended by a response to my friend's thoughts and encouraged others to think before they write.

I have learned that in my decades long experiences of writing letters to the editors of newspapers in the areas in which I have lived.  In the beginning, I was very much like the person who now offends me; he was quick to accuse and did not offer a legitimate reason for their opinion.  I learned the hard way when some of my earlier letters were castigated - severely criticized, by people I was forced to recognize, who knew so much more about my subject that I had even considered.  "Live and learn" - words of advice I had heard about in the 6th grade while attending school in a one room building in a farm community, but had failed to grasp their value in teaching me how to live, more effectively.

So over the weekend, my "friend" called with the following verbatim thought.  "I trust you are the guy who writes letters to the editors.  You want to defend your friend's words?  They are bull..."  I expect you understand his thought.  And of course, he hung up.

I didn't have any problem hanging up my receiver, but his thoughts linger on.

There is no need to explain his reasoning.  My friend writes about religious beliefs and for some reason that escapes my understanding of religion, he does not always conform to the teachings of many of the other Pastor/teachers in this area.   Some people want to tell me that these others are clinging to thoughts in the Bible that have become outdated by modern day science.  I don't know about that.

What I do know, however, is that in my travels I have met people of many different religious beliefs and I have one thing in common with every one of them.  We are all called to love or respect one another's religious beliefs.  A wise man once taught me, the Bible was not written for the benefit of others, it was written for my benefit!   It took me some 45 years to understand that and worse, I had no real knowledge of the Bible in spite of the fact I had been a regular church attender for most of those years.   I would learn that the "key" to understanding the Bible centered on my need to repent for the life I had been living and give the teachings I would discover in the Bible, an opportunity to guide my "new" life.  To my amazement, it has been a most amazing discovery.

I do not search the pages of the Bible looking for ways that others can live their lives.  My only call is to love them, just as I have loved others sentenced to death by the State and seen their sentences over turned.  I have loved men who were our enemies on the battlefield  and watched as they became my fellow citizens in this, the greatest nation ever ordained by God.  All because of love.

And that is our call, regardless of the denomination to which we belong.  It matters not how others want to believe.  Our sole responsibility is to love them. each and every one of them.  When we do, we will soon discover, they do listen.

I even love the man who called, "casting stones" at my friend and I pray that I will - somehow, learn his identity so that I might help him to learn that in my experience, the word that he used could be so much better utilized as a fertilizer that brings forth life to products that may even nourish us.

The reason I have used these words to describe this situation is because I know from experience living in this community for most of the past decade, it is because of the fact I do have two eyes and two ears. We seem to have so many living in this area who suffer from what I would prefer to call - r.a.   It took me awhile to understand those initials medically, stand for - rheumatoid arthritis.  That's one way, but it seems to me that there they could as easily stand for - religious antagonism.

Pardon the delay. My editor is a close friend and I really do not like imposing on the good nature of good friends. I trust you will understand. Better yet, I pray that you will respond. What do you think about "using" the talents of good friends?

Wow! What a day to start this. As you will learn, I love the art of politics and I will have comments on the state of politics as I write. To tell you the truth, both sides of the critical issues of our day are suspect. They were elected to office to serve the "We, the people".... as described in our Constitution and it ought to be apparent, "We" are the missing ingredient in most of the solutions they have to offer. So, tonight, as you listen to the President of the United States put forth his proposed agenda for the coming year, take time to realize this is his perspective. You may differ from his, but if you do, I pray that you will offer a reasoned response and not just the words offered to you by your favorite political "think" tank.

But politics is not the intent of my efforts. I have lived a long time, going on my 85th birthday in August, and I have learned a lot, forgotten even more, but this I believe with all of my heart. There is a God and none of us really know Him if our lives do not resemble His teachings and they should not be restricted to the dictates of any one particular religious ethic. In saying that, I do not wish to demean any particular religion. You ought to be free to make up your own mind. I have a strong belief in the ethic defined by our nation's Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. I have opinions and have come to realize that they are always subject to change as long as others do not try to force their opinions on me. I live to learn and even at my advancing age, I am eager to hear about new ideas, even old ideas with a new twist..

When you hear the responses to the President's speech tonight, take care that you do not merely echo their thoughts. They get paid to say what you will hear and - regardless of which party has fashioned the comments, you can believe that you need to carefully examine their content.

With that, I am out of here. Plan to spend the day examining the employment opportunities in our community, the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee, my adopted home. I love it. Yes, I was born in Michigan, graduated from Yale, but that was not the college in Connecticut. It was a great place to start, but I have also traveled a lot and stand amazed at this land we call the United States of America. I am proud of every acre and the people who occupy who occupy even a fraction of each acre. We do amazing things and our reason for being ought to focus on encouraging others to do even more. Think about this and I'll be back tomorrow. I trust I will see you then.

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