We spent last weekend in Northern Michigan, one of our favorite places in the world, and enjoyed beautiful weather (although the water was freezing)! It was great family time and I just had to share this pic, because well, they’re stinkin’ cute!
I have been wanting to join in with Lisa Jo and Five Minute Fridays for a long time, but for some reason or another, just never jumped in.
This week has been crazy around here, but I want to stay committed to posting twice a week. So when I woke up this morning and didn’t have a post ready to go, I thought, “Five Minute Friday! I can totally do that today!” Sometimes it’s just the little things, isn’t it?
Today’s prompt is: Nothing.
GO
Grace: the free and unmerited favor of God.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Grace lately. How crazy it is.
What does Grace ask of us? What do we have to do to receive Grace?
Nothing.
Grace is free and unmerited. There is nothing that we can do that will bring us more Grace, and nothing we can do that will take away Grace.
That’s a hard pill for us to swallow, isn’t it? Because we always want to DO SOMETHING.
Check off a list, follow these three simple steps, try harder and be more. But Grace expects none of this.
Nothing.
There is nothing I could do to make God love me any more. And there is nothing I could do to make God love me any less. This is something that is not easy to understand in our performance based, bootstrapping culture.
I love the term scandalous grace. Because it is so scandalous. How could this be?
I don’t presume to fully understand grace. But I am trying to grab ahold of it. Because while grace asks nothing of us, it absolutely changes everything.
STOP
I read a great interview with Billy Graham’s grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, last night about this very topic. Check it out, it is definitely worth the read!
Is it easy or hard for you to accept that grace asks nothing of you?
Linked to Five Minute Fridays at Lisa-Jo Baker
Hi Emily! I’m linked up behind you on Five Minute Friday & have to say I can agree. I’ve been trying to keep myself to a certain editorial schedule and sometimes, Five Minute Friday is what I can do. And I LOVE the term scandalous grace! We serve a mighty God! Blessings on you!
Thanks so much for stopping by Julie!
I love this! So very very true. And such a great post for this word prompt! Thank you for sharing. Here from FMF and welcome to the party!
Thank you Mary!
Oh, this is so wonderful! I LOVE how you used the prompt. Having lived years in a performance based mentality I can now never get enough when hearing about His grace which I speak of often over on my blog too. This is another great reminder and I thank you. Love, love, love Tullian too. So glad I stopped by.
This book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything reminds me of your post:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1433507781/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1433507781&linkCode=as2&tag=jonatha05-20