Grace from God is infinite. Limitless. Vast and never-ending. In whichever circumstance in our lives, the truth remains – our eternal God gives everlasting grace. This is what God taught me in the first chapter of the book - “What’s so amazing about grace” by Philip Yancey.
God gives abundantly even though we don’t deserve it. The story of Babette caused a huge impact in my life. It is hard to imagine a person who is willing to give up a large amount for people who don’t even care. Along with this movie, “Babette’s feast”, I also remember the movie “MOST”, which entails the sacrificial love of a father to his son while getting trapped in the wildest dilemma in his life. He is as a bridgemaster and he was once brought to a point where had to choose whom to save between the people in the train or his son. Later on, he opted the salvation of multiple lives in the train over his son’s life. The train crashed his beloved son under it while the people inside the train didn’t know that a father outside is grieving for his son’s death. They are saved but his son died.
If people knew what Babette did, they will laugh at her and apparently, some will call her fool for giving out her money in just a snap. However, in the end, people were transformed. It was a victorious sacrifice. I remember how God sacrificed His son Jesus Christ to let us, His people, know that He is a victorious God who loves us. Some people question His ways: “Why should a loving God let His Son die?” Nonetheless, God has laid down the best plan ever designed – through Jesus Christ.
After Babette’s sacrifice, many people were able to show up their true self. They were renewed at the expense of Babette. Like the story of the bridgemaster and his son, people inside the train were given the chance to change. Most of them decided to live under God’s provisions. Indeed, grace is about chance. It is the chance that we need but we don’t ask for. We receive it and we don’t care. God gives it to us because he knows we need it, and we don’t realize we should have it.
The point brought out in Mark Twain’s way of gathering different animals in a cage and different church leaders in a place is really and interesting fact that made me laugh. Indeed, churches communicate ungrace through lack of unity. Some people just don’t see how much grace they received that’s why they fail to let the infinite grace to flow through them as well.
In the section “A new math of Grace”, I have learned many things about calculating. Grace is immeasurable. It was said that if statistics matters to God, then we are saved by Moses not Jesus, because of Moses’ gauges in the book of numbers. God never counts how much sin we did and He never counts how much He has forgiven us. We are receiving more than enough from Him, yet most of us don’t realize how abusive we become each day.
As I went through the last pages of the chapter, I realize a lot of things about how many times God did this and that out of grace. From the 1:99 lost and saved sheep to the seventy times seven (or seventy seven – in some manuscripts) forgiveness gauge, God’s provisions are always there. He has the most accurate calculator ever, and that calculator surely has no significant numbers, only repeating decimals and infinite numbers.
God’s grace is immesurable. Noone can calculate it. Everyone is unable to see how much more He can give. Philip Yancey did a great job in the book. The first four chapters contain amazing revelations about God, who gives lavishly and unconditionally. I will continue reading and go on discovering how great the God who brings immeasurable forgiveness, understanding, and love is.
Lanilane Ocbina
JDC
module 2 - final exam part 1
