the gospel I love

I give the LORD the credit for the new presentation of this weblog. It is inspired by His good news which gives me hope.

Somehow in the last several months I thought I could do without it. Scripture itself wasn't able to break me. But just before Christmas He reminded me through a long-time dear and simple story how I felt -- and the reason why Christ makes a difference.

What was the story about? It's about others. What they deserve. What they have been given. How amazing hope in Him can be. Doctrines and teachings and memorized passages didn't penetrate, and God must have planned to cause this repentance instead through reminding me of the ones I love.

The love itself I can't really share out loud. It just is, it moves me, and I feel it. It used to always be that when I saw people, in my mind I heard scripture. And when I heard scripture, I thought of people. They were bound together once and they are once again.

Previously I have explained this doctrine as 'law versus grace.' It is the conviction that in Christ we are truly free to depend on Him for everything. I spent much of the year 2005 trying to capture its beauty, in my blog entries and journals. In 2006 I was fairly silent on my experience of subjection to a misery that was crying out to receive relief in the very way I believed the world ought to be ministered to. Why is it that it is so much more easy for me to give a generous helping of healing to everyone else, but I can't be as gracious with my own needs? I operate as if my guilt is so much more necessary than anyone else's.... That's wrong, and I want that to change.

A Snoodle's Tale