The bottom line for me, the truth that God keeps bringing me back to, the truth I need to hear every day of my life, the foundation of my whole way of living, now and forever, is expressed so well in this quote from The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning:
"...through no merit of ours, but by His mercy, we have been restored to a right relationship with God through the life, death, and resurrection of His beloved Son. This is the good News, the gospel of grace."
Wow! We have been put into a right relationship with God through Jesus' work. There is nothing wrong with our relationship with God and there never will be, no matter what sin or confusion or doubt we may experience. There is nothing wrong with our relationship with God; instead, there is everything right with our relationship with Him!
This is a perfect relationship where everything is always fine between us, even after we blow it, even if we fail to pray today, even if circumstances suddenly go crazy. We will always be in that beautiful place, safe in His arms, forgiven and whole, accepted and cradled, loved and valued, alive and vibrant, full and free, carried through in strength and hope and triumph - safely home, at peace, at rest, in fellowship with the One who truly cherishes us and looks on us with delight, forever!
And to think - we have that wonderful joyous relationship for free, as a gift, simply to be received with the "Thank You, Daddy!" of simple faith. That is beautiful! What a glorious gospel is the gospel of grace!
