Amazing Grace? Amazing Book.

I just finished this book early last week for our couples' small group meeting last Thursday. We usually do studies that take place over several weeks, but this time we did a "book club" like meeting discussing Philip Yancey's "What's So Amazing About Grace?" If the idea of reading a Christian book freaks you out, this is a great one to start with. It's not a new book, but it was new to me. It's one of the best books I've ever read. The author is so real and honest about his own struggles with comprehending God's grace. He has so many real world stories and examples that remind us what a truly grace-less world we live in.

This book would speak to anyone and everyone I imagine, but I think it's especially powerful if you're someone who has struggled with forgiveness. Especially letting go of that stronghold that someone from your past has had on you. He speaks a lot to finding the strength to forgive the most undeserving, but also to living a life with an attitude of grace in general. In the second half, Yancey digs deeply into how the Christian image has been severely damaged by churches, politicians, and extremists' total lack of grace. How quickly we forget that Jesus didn't hang out with the righteous; he dined with and kept the company of sinners. He was love and grace personified.

There are so many fantastic quotable lines in this book, but my absolute favorite...

"There is nothing we can do to make God love us more.

There is nothing we can do to make God love us less."

So many people, even Christians, have the misconception that our salvation is dependent on what we do. If that's you, please read this book. Every one of us thirsts for grace. And here God is, waiting for us with his arms wide open. "God's arms are always extended; we are the ones who turn away."