What is God’s big secret?
Why is it impossible for most to discover it?
“But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.” Psalm 13:5-6
Until you trust in His “unfailing Love” you will never be singing true praise!
The greatest challenge for legalist is and always will be their skewed God image! They see God as this whip in one hand and flowers in the other Being who is either waiting for them to say a curse words so He can beat them or giving them flowers because they helped an old lady across the street!
Legalists see God, as Brennan Manning said, as a “cosmic customs agent” waiting to check your baggage and assess your penalty!
The Grace-Full see God as “unfailing Love” with the ultimate proof of that being the cross of Christ and The Gift beyond Compare that He gave and gives Freely!
To the legalist the reward, the salvation is the pie in the sky of the future and he is supposed to have faith that it will happen someday If he keeps up the good work!
To the Grace-Full the salvation starts the moment he accepts Christ as that is the very second that he leaves the law behind, is engrafted into or reconciled with God once and for all and at that very second began to grow by Grace through Faith in Love!
To the legalist the singing is a part of the bulletin, another in the big long laundry list of what must be done for the eternal reward “someday” but for now for now, paint the smile on, shake the hands and make everyone think you love this because everyone knows in Heaven this is all we will be doing so you better get used to it!
To the Grace-Full, those growing in the awareness of the Freedom they have and therefore the Peace that it gives and the total release of condemnation, shame and guilt – the developing awareness of this creates a heart bursting with ever increasing Gratitude often producing a strange smile even at the darkest moments. The Grace-Full know the big secret and as a result there is no struggle only a strange Peace that in the end the Good Guy really does win and between now and then each moment is a PhD in Love if we stop and listen!
And here is the Big Secret that most will blow off and think too trite to consider – God Radically Loves you more than you could ever hope to know or understand!