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Saturday, April 4, 2015

Scandal of Grace


 
 
Can you imagine? The God you worship has put skin on and walked among you. He has touched you, eaten with you, healed you, taught you, laughed with you, cried with you, lived with you. Now He shoulders a cross up a hill and dies for you.

Darkness falls.

Shattered, you stagger away from that hill of blood and death and suffering. Nothing will ever be the same again. The greatest love you’ve ever known is dead and gone. All is lost.

Days pass in a blur of numbness. You have no tears left.

But on the third day, light bursts forth. A tomb opens wide, and its bowels are empty. And look! There He stands—alive. How can this be?

Suddenly, words come rushing back, things He said and did that made little sense at the time, but now brim with color and meaning. The events fall into place and your blind eyes now see how everything has come together.

After centuries of trying and failing to keep the law, it is fulfilled. After years of distance, years of inadequacy, years of judgment . . . at last it is finished. One perfect sacrifice, undeserved, has turned everything around. The curtain is torn in two. No longer is that holy place of God reserved for the select priests. Now anyone can walk into His presence boldly.

Now you can.

Death’s reign is over, its power conquered. You weep from the sheer beauty of it all as His scarred hands pull you into an embrace. You never deserved this. You’ve spent your whole life trying to scrub away your filth, but Love has cleansed you, bought you with blood.

You should have bled out on that cross to atone for your wrongs, and yet you didn’t. He did. Perfect, blameless, He died a criminal’s death so you can walk free.

There are no words for this, only gratitude. You lean back and smile at Him through the tears because now, truly, nothing will ever be the same again.

Innocence slain. The guilty absolved. A curse broken.

This is a scandal of grace.
 
Grace, what have You done?
Murdered for me on that cross
Accused in absence of wrong
My sin washed away in Your love
Too much to make sense of it all
I know that Your love breaks my fall
This scandal of grace—You died in my place so my soul will live
 —Scandal of Grace, Hillsong United

10 comments:

  1. That was really beautiful. Tracey has a blog! I am so excited, you are such a splendiferous writer. :D

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    1. Aw, thank you muchly, Skye! I'm excited to have you pop in! :D

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  2. Oh my...that literally took my breath away. Your words made it feel so REAL. It just brought it alive so beautifully. This...wow. I'm kind of sitting her stunned at the beauty of it, the power. This was amazing! Thank you for this beautiful post!

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    1. I'm so glad--and thank you! ^__^ It's so easy to brush past the meaning of Easter because we hear it all the time, but when we actually stop for a minute and consider how massive, how incredible it really is...just wow. Love you, girl! <3

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  3. What a beautiful post! Aaaahh. Thanks so much for this. <3 You put it in such perfect words and it is a great reminder. :,)

    (Also, I don't know if you plan to do tags on your blog, but I tagged you for the 777 writing challenge... You don't have to do it, just thought I'd mention. https://deborahocarroll.wordpress.com/2015/04/06/777-writing-challenge-heartseeker-kw2/)

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    1. Thanks, Deborah! <3 I hope you had a great Easter.

      (Ooh! Yes, I would totally do tags! That looks like a fun one. Thank you!)

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  4. Wow. This was a wonderful post, Tracey. :)
    I think sometimes we take grace for granted. It's something we should constantly be thankful for, something we should always hold in our awe and wonder. This is a good reminder, not just on Easter, but throughout our whole life.
    -Josiah

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    1. Thanks, Josiah. :)
      Mmhm, exactly. We forget it too easily, don't we?

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  5. Everyone seemed to say what I wanted say! It was so lovely! :) I almost felt like crying... Thanks for the reminder!
    -CeCe

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