What do we do about the party crashers?

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I've got to leave for work in five minutes, but I found this in my morning reading and wanted to share it before I forgot.
"Nothing makes people in the church more angry than grace. It's ironic: we stumble into a party we weren't invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in. Then a strange phenomenon occurs: as soon as we are included in the party because of Jesus' irresponsible love, we decide to make grace 'more responsible' by becoming self-appointed Kingdom Monitors, guarding the kingdom of God, keeping the riffraff out (which, as I understand it are who the kingdom of God is supposed to include.)"
Michael Yaconelli in Messy Spirituality, God's annoying love for imperfect people

Comments

Ancoti said…
Good thing God does not hold us to the standard we hold others to in our self righteousness.
June 25, 2009 at 10:34 AM
Debbie Petras said…
All I can say is that I'm so grateful for God's grace. If it were not for His amazing grace, I'd be lost!
June 25, 2009 at 3:15 PM
Unknown said…
Some people say the point of the Parable of the Prodigal Son is the blessed acceptance the son received because he went home. I've heard others say, No, it should be called the Parable of the Loving Father. That's all well and good. But I heard someone say recently that Jesus' whole point in the parable was the older son, who thought he was so good that he didn't need grace, even though he probably needed it more than his brother...
June 26, 2009 at 6:15 PM
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