Grace abounds... or does it?

One from the archives...

I was on the worship team that morning.
The theme of the service was "grace."
I was supposed to comment between songs & said something like this - after we sang Keith Green's chorus.
.....
O LORD, You're beautiful;
Your face is all I seek.
And when Your eyes are on this child,
Your grace abounds to me.
.....

...Your grace abounds to me...

For the first 40-some years of my life, I didn't really understand what was the big deal about grace. Oh, I could define it, but I didn't really "get it." When some awful sinner got saved and was raving about the grace of God, I thought it was cool. I could understand that "sinners" need grace, but didn't really "get" how excited they might be about it.

You see...
I was a good kid - a church kid.
I did all the "right things." Well, most of the right things...
AND I was a pleaser - so I almost always tried to do what I thought would please God. Well, and please other people, too...

Don't get me wrong; there's nothing wrong with being a good kid, doing right things or wanting to please God.

BUT somehow it was as if I had started to believe that I was good enough, that I didn't need grace. *gasp* Even if it were true, what a lot of pressure that would be, eh?

Thankfully, however, God has used several people and a few great books to get my attention and to help me recognize my faulty thinking. I remember one pivotal moment...

I had been dealing with someone who had "willfully" and "continually" participated in one of the "worst sins" you could think of. Trust me; it was one that we good Christians get really upset about.

However... I was becoming aware of my "holier-than-thou" attitude and was asking God to teach me His perspective. I hope I never forget that moment - when it dawned on me that MY pious, legalistic, self-righteous, judgmental attitude smelled just as putrid in God's nostrils as that "horrible" sin that I had been judging. (Is. 64:6)

Long story short.
I'm FINALLY starting to "get it"
-how really amazing grace is - how awesome
-how desperately I need it
-how I must extend grace to others
-how it abounds to me
-what it feels like to bask in it
-how to live free

I'm so incredibly grateful to finally be "catching on" to this grace thing.
I choose to remember that I desperately need grace.
Hopefully that will remind me to extend it to others.