Grace, what have you done?

Murdered for me on that cross
Accused in absence of wrong
My sin washed away in Your blood

Too much to make sense of it all
I know that Your love breaks my fall
The scandal of grace, You died in my place
So my soul will live – Hillsong United

So as I was listening to the song (click the image above to hear it) from Hillsong United, “Scandal of Grace” and I realized that Jesus was as scandalous as they come. He did scandalous things according to the culture of His day. He hung out with prostitutes, con men, and hustlers. He challenged the religious, He upset the self-righteous, He ruffled the sinners as well. Jesus was the most loved and the most hated. He didn’t have a middle ground, He was the ground. No one could match His wisdom yet no one could match His love. His love was scandalous.

Scandalous defined is causing general public outrage by a perceived offense against morality or law. I’ve been scandalous in the past and… yes, so have you. If people really saw our hearts, if they really saw our sick, dark secrets not one of us has any moral ground to stand on. I’d say we would all lose a lot of Facebook friends. It’s sad to see so many Christians live a self-righteous, judgmental life pointing their finger at everyone around them except themselves! Judgement is just as sinful as anything else.

In life we will run into negative scandals that bring up so many questions that beg for answers. Instead of finding answers that may not really matter in our individual life we may want to increase our love. Scandals stir up negative emotions in everyone. The little judge and jury comes out in all of us but for a moment let’s stop and think. Let’s stop and think like Jesus. What’s more scandalous than someone’s sin is the covering of that sin through love. When love covers a scandal, it becomes even more scandalous. This is what Jesus did for us. This is the truth that every self-righteous bone in our body does not want to deal with. We want punishment, they need to pay! Crucify him! That’s what the crowd yelled when Jesus was before them and that’s what the crowd still yells today. Unfortunately it comes more from the church than anywhere else.

I’d admonish us as the church to be scandalous like Jesus and cover those who need it most. All of our time will come when we need the grace and mercy of God. I pray that when your time comes, not if but when, you experience the covering of love of God. I’ve experienced being uncovered by those who say they loved me and I’ve experienced being covered by those who truly do.

My goal in life is to become more like Jesus. I want my life to exude the love of God.I want to cover those who need grace. That’s scandalous.

[divider style=”1″ align=”center” size=”normal” variant=”normal” dimension=”1px” color=”” scrolltext=””][/divider]

Please leave your thoughts if you feel led and let’s continue the conversation! May God bless you!