Radical Grace

The response I received from the Christian community when my addiction came to light showed me the need for radical grace. Now I extend it because I know what it feels like to not receive it.
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Bro, best blog I've read in a while! Thanks for writing, you really bless so many people!
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1. not anymore 2. still do, even in my broken state

"When you’re desperate for grace and you’ve messed your life up beyond your ability to fix it, the “Christian” rules you’ve lived by no longer make sense"

This statement is SO true in my life, i don't want to even be "the christian" anymore…it was all a sham. I just want to have Christ transform my heart…remove the pride and selfishness. I just don't care about all the other "stuff".

In the past it has been very difficult for me to extend radical grace. I'm sure there are a lot of factors in there, but it is largely due to the way I was raised to believe God saw us. My legalistic church upbringing and works-based view of how I was raised to believe God sees us bred a sick entitlement in my heart and has long-tainted my ability to really love and accept "those" people.

However, just like you mentioned, the more God has broken down the walls in my heart and shown me how badly I need a savior for ME, he has also shown me that I, too, am one of "those" people. In an interesting life twist, I now find myself trying to rush to extend grace every opportunity I get, while genuinely wrestling with how such grace could be extended to me. This has really challenged me today. Amazing post, bro. I'm so thankful for your heart.
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WOW! I had no idea…

" I loved my brother-in-law, but in my heart I judged him."

My dad and I have talked about the fact that though his own lifestyle journey has made some things tremendously difficult on both of us in different ways, BOTH of us understand mercy and grace much better now because of our need of it from others.

I love that your brother-in-law demonstrated that for you… he has obviously received radical grace and understands the need for it, or else he couldn't have demonstrated it so perfectly. Wow. My dad has shown me the same thing many times.

My dad and I co-authored a story a long time ago "The Modern Day Samaritan" where I talk about this kind of grace given by those who you might not expect to give it… I thought about that story as I read about your bro in law giving you a hug. He too is a modern-day samaritan i love that!
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This is a powerful story. I believe I have more trouble understanding that, I too, can receive this radical grace. When I mess up I only expect RADICAL PUNISHMENT. I never expect radical grace. This means I'm missing out on the most important character of Christ and His love for me. I'm working on it, though.
I have, also, been the one judging though. I just learned that lesson recently, and as you've experienced, when you learn it it's one that sticks.

Whoa!

Wow. Amazing example.

My friend posted this on her facebook page. What a wonderful post. It has taken me a long time to realize that I can disagree with a person's life style or choices and still love the person. Like I told my friend, I can feel the judgements when I have had to use food stamps to put food on the table for my kids, but I believe that God allows me to go through this to mold me into a person who extends more grace and a person who will not be ashamed to speak up for someone who can't speak up. I think people can convict themselves enough without outsiders helping. <3
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Wow. This is amazing Justin. I am so proud of you for letting Him speak through you and what you have gone through. I would love to say that I extend radical grace all the time, but I don’t. I would love to say that I know I need radical grace all the time..but I don’t. What an amazing reminder..thank you

Speechless!

Justin…I struggle big time. I feel like I am justified in harboring resentment towards those who gossip about me behind my back. I feel as though I need to hold them accountable for their actions, expose their inconsistencies, and secretly smile while I do it.

I repent!
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Count me among the THOSES. Living under the influence of radical grace has me fulfilling Jesus' two commandments with vigor. I'm Loving God – in my own heart the blood of Jesus just keeps getting more and more powerful as I extend grace for all the stuff he died for. Loving people – realizing God isn't holding anyones sin against them anymore – including mine (again that blood of Jesus thing (2 Co. 5:19) frees me to come alongside and start the healing/back on track process. Thanks so much for this post. A life changer!

everytime i find myself having trouble extending grace to others especially "difficult" people (which seems to happen a lot lately)…..i make an effort to remember the days when i was messed up and didn't have God. when i realize the extent of grace that God has given me…it makes it so much easier to extend grace to others. coz then i remember … i did nothing to deserve His love… and now i need to share that same love to others.

i so want my life to be earmarked by radical grace… i fail at it so often though. thank you for this beautiful, poignant reminder, justin.
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That's amazing, Justin. Thanks so much for sharing.

"What I realized and continue to realize is I am those people."

What an awesome comment. It's so easy to pass a homeless drug addict, judge him, and rationalize walking by without giving him a second thought. The challenge for us, as Christians, is to always extend the grace that we've been freely given. It's so easy to horde it, to get caught in the trap where you think "I deserve grace, but that guy doesn't."

Sometimes it takes a kick in the butt from a pastor's blog to remind us of that pure and simple fact. Thanks, Justin!
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Justin,

Amazing stuff you are sharing here! I wish more pastors displayed this kind of vulnerability, transparency and honesty. As Christians we can be so grace-less and utterly judgemental of those who we are quietly confident are bigger sinners than us, let's be honest, and sometimes it takes a non believer, even an atheist to actually show us the hypocrisy and the major sin of pride within our own hearts. It is my belief that the Christian faith will have a new resurgence and a greater impact all over the world when we Christians get off our pedestal of self-righteousness and infallibility, and we begin to humble ourselves and realise that was it not for the grace first given to us, we would be the ones being judged and hurt by self-righteous Christians (like you and me), we would be the ones nobody wants to "touch", or be friends with, the very people Jesus died to save, and constantly ministered to.
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Wow, Justin. Thanks for your vulnerability. Your words…God is using them to chastise me to the core…in a good way, a much needed way…thank you. Wow…

Right on brother!

How easy it is to judge others in order to make ourselves feel so much better.

Thanks for the words that you allowed God to just pour out of you and for reminding us all of the heart checks that we need to do every single day.

loved this post! reminds of the serious butt kicking i got when i 1st read the Ragamuffin Gospel. and i suppose that any "portion" of grace short of radical, isn't really grace at all.
in an earlier comment, the foundation of our beliefs that are formed in childhood was briefly discussed… on the flip side, i was raised to not only love homosexuals, but to embrace them. not only to send money for the refugee camps, but to go work them… etc. i had lice like 5 times growing up in miami. my parents worked with the haitian refugee community and my mom also was the pastor in charge of hospice visits. she taught me not to fear aids in a time when people were avoiding public drinking fountains. she taught me how to love a baby reeking of urine and hold her close while i sang her a song and wiped her runny nose. this was my childhood. but then removed from that environment, back in the regular "church" environment, my mentality became the persecuted mentality. i became the outsider. it's a weird thing. so i changed. i joined up with the majority and then God came in & threw that book on my lap and said read this! and i wept. and wept. and wept. and never turned back.
one of my least favorite christian phrases is "love the sinner, hate the sin". we don't hate sin, we hate their sin. and we hate it because we think its dirty, perverted, & disgusting… but God hates sin because of what it does to us and what it keeps us from. what a freeing revelation if we could all grasp it… it's easier not to judge when you hate sin for the reasons God does. hmm.
thanks for this awesome reminder and swift kick in the pants guys.
everytime i visit this blog, there is always something ripe and ready for the picking;)

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awesome Post!!!! Love you guys!
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Justin, this was such a great post! Seriously it is really powerful. You are so right until we recognize our need for radical grace we will ALWAYS judge the person we think we are "better" than. I hate to admit but I have been that person who thought I was so much better than such and such. I may not have said it outloud but my actions spoke to that truth more than I want to admit. But I'm seeing things differently these days and I'm grateful to God for the shift in my thinking. I'm learning to extend that kind of grace to others. It doesn't come easily or naturally but I'm going to keep giving it until it comes as easily as breathing my next breathe. Thank you so much for sharing these words tonight. They struck a chord deep in my heart.

Yes and Yes. Thankfully the grace still applies. I sure need it.