Amazing Grace

       This morning I thought of two things as I sat here praying for inspiration, and really they go hand in hand. As I sat here praying I started to hear the lyrics and music to "Amazing Grace" in my mind and up sprang thoughts of the prodigal son(Luke 15:11-32). Both of these are pretty popular, I could be wrong but I think most people are familiar with both. Most people I am sure have heard that song and can recognize it, mostly because we often hear it at funerals. For a lot of people they associate it with mourning and pain, but really that's not what this song is about, it's really a song of hope after the pain. It's light after the darkness. Much like the story of the prodigal son it reminds us that there is hope for the sinner, that we will be welcomed back with open arms.
       The writer of  "Amazing Grace" knew well this lesson having learned it first hand. I have read reports that describe John Newton as surly, insubordinate, and down right mean, I have read that he was a heavy drinker as well, which if true wouldn't surprise me, from my own experience drinking too much and being surly and mean go together. He was a member of the British Royal Navy, something he had been forced into and later after leaving the service he entered the Atlantic slave trade. It was when he was working in the slave trade that John Newton began to change. During a terrible storm off the coast of Ireland he called out to God to rescue him, and God did. When he came home he wrote the first verse of "Amazing Grace" and in 1764 was ordained by the Church of England, having made a dramatic turn around. John Newton had experienced something in that ocean that changed him, something the caused him to write "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me....I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, but now, I see." he had returned home and was found by the Father in his moment of distress.
       When I sing "Amazing Grace" knowing my own story, and the stories of many others I know, I see it as singing the story of the prodigal son. Blinded by pride and a "I can do it without you" attitude we wander through life trying to do things on our own but nothing ever works out quite right. Until we finally fall, until we are in a place where we have no other choice but to go to our Father or be completely left to waste by our own pride. In that moment of broken surrender of asking for forgiveness, our repentant plea of "I'm sorry, I was wrong. I need you, please just get me out of this and I will serve you!" goes up to our Creator as our blinders fall off and we see ourselves clearly. We finally see we needed Him all along, and grace feels our hearts!
       Amazing grace is unconditional love. A love willing to suffer and die to set you free from death, free from the burdens that beat you down and make you feel like less. It's a love that says you are worthy not because of anything you do, but because I love you where you are and want the best for you. It's a father's love for his wayward child returning home, accepting and forgiving, celebrating the second chance and forgetting what was wrong. It's Jesus's arms spread wide on the cross saying "Father forgive them for they know not what they do(Luke 23:34)." It's time after time God telling us and reassuring us in His word that we are forgiven giving us the freedom to walk away from our former life and be a new creation in our Lord.  Amazing grace is freedom in Yeshua. Be blessed.
  
Psalm 103:8   
The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Psalm 103:13   
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him

Jeremiah 31:3   
The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you

John 3:16   
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
     
Ephesians 2:8-9   
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

1 John 1:9   
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness