Friday, May 31, 2013 2 Corinthians
12:8
My Grace Is All You Need
When I first read Brennan
Manning’s memoir, All is Grace I was a bit put off. I had idolized him
for his ability to live and communicate the awesome grace of God. He had
surrendered his ordination as a priest because he found true love. He married,
mastered his alcoholism and the last time I talked with him when he was living
in New Orleans, he was very, very happy. Then his life came unglued, again. He
divorced. He again stumbled over the temptation of alcohol. He was asked how it
was possible that someone who has had such powerful encounters with God’s grace
could relapse. When I first read his response I thought it was trite, flippant:
“These things happen.” Upon deeper reflection I found it simple and eloquent.
At his end, Manning was dependent
on the kindness of others for his sustenance. Certainly this was not a
Hollywood, story-book ending for a man who had helped countless thousands open
their hearts to the tenderness of Abba’s embrace. Maybe it wasn’t a Hollywood
ending, but it was biblical. Jesus said pretty much the same thing would happen
to the Apostle Peter. (John 21:18-19)
We want external proof for the
sacrifices we make for the Kingdom of God, the life in Christ. We want to be
better than before. We want others to see Jesus visible in our mortal flesh.
The Apostle Paul waxed poetic to Timothy when thinking about the end of his
life: “I have finished the race, I have
kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day .
. .” (2 Timothy 4:7b-8 NRSV). We tend to forget that in his end, Paul,
alone and dismayed in a Roman jail, was beheaded.
After her death, Mother Teresa’s
personal letters revealed she and Brennan Manning were two peas in a pod. "I
am told God lives in me -- and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and
emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul," she wrote in one of
the letters. She was both holy and human. And, she and Brennan were not alone.
The Apostles Peter and Paul are in the pod with them, as are countless souls
who have dared to believe the furious longing of God love for us, just as we
are.
Manning, Teresa, and Peter stood
with Paul and heard Abba say, “My grace
is all you need. My power works best in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:8). In
our human experience, some days God’s grace is more than sufficient. Some days
it’s not. Some days we want more. Some days we are sure we need more than just
our Abba saying. “I love you.” It has been my experience than on those latter
days, He does give more. In addition to saying, “I love you” Abba says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be
comforted” (Matthew 5:3-4 NRSV).
Is that enough? So far it has
been.
Sē’lah
<>< <><
<>< <><
(Selah is a word that appears in the
Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my
correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these
things.)
These
meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his
way of life. In addition to this BLOG
they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to
this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by
subscription
Publications by Alex M. Knight:
·
Seeking the
Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at
Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.
·
The second
edition First Think – Then Pray
has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.
·
Meditations on
The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.
