Coffee + Christ = Amazing Grace
I would be willing to bet you have some favorite things that go together that maybe others would not agree are a good match. Maybe you love pickles on your peanut butter sandwich. It’s possible you smother your eggs and potatoes with catchup. You could be the person who doesn’t believe the greatest thing is macaroni and cheese, or pineapple and ham on your pizza. Whatever it is, we always seem to find things to enhance other things in our lives.
If you have read my blog for a while, you already know that my two favorite things are Christ and Coffee. What an incredible combination I have found these two things to be. Would most people think these two things go together well? I don’t have the answer to that, but I do know that a life filled with coffee is a happy life. A life filled with Christ, on the other hand, is the most incredible life one could possibly even believe to be part of. If you do not know Christ as your personal savior, I would like you to read this weekly blog with an open mind and heart. I would like you to take time each day to personally consider what your life is currently like and what your life could truly be if you had Christ fully living within you.
Knowing and following Christ truly can complete you and make you flawless. God’s amazing grace is what makes us so flawless. Mercy Me has a song titled “Flawless” in which they sing about His amazing grace. They sing of Christ being our Hero who comes in when we think it is just too late, or we are so far gone, or things just can't change or get better. In the song He is not introduced as Jesus or The Christ, He is simply and completely Amazing Grace. We could actually never call Him Jesus and only use the name Amazing Grace. This may be the direction I move because I so love, desire, anticipate, look for, His Amazing Grace in every step of my day, month, year, life. The sensation of Amazing Grace is so much better than any perfectly made cup of coffee, sunset over purple mountains, snow falling on Christmas Eve, dolphins swimming in the ocean. It is a sweet song that stays on your tongue all day, sings in your ears each night.
God’s Amazing Grace came on the day Jesus took his last breath on the cross. The day He was crucified with a sword in his side, his breath being strangled by hanging by His hands that were pierced through with heavy nails. This is the day He decided that He would take away all our sins and forever be our Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace is given to us each day when we fail, each day when we fall, when we are sick, when we are unfaithful, troubled, sinning. It is a forgiveness that we don’t deserve. It is given to us to free us no matter what we have done or will do. We don’t deserve it, we can’t ask for it, we can’t beg to be given it. It restores us, forgives us, redeems us by a pure love for us. When Jesus died for us on that cross he was letting us know that he would go to God for us and take away all our sin. He would take away a death that is certain to come to each of us as sinners. His grace set's us free from any punishment. It gives us eternal life.
I read once that until we understand that we don’t deserve God’s grace, we will never truly feel what it is like. Not until we humble ourselves to realize how sinful, bad, horrible, unlovely, troubled we are, will we understand how incredible it is to be flawless by Amazing Grace. Each time we sin and fall short, Amazing Grace looks on us and immediately forgives and forgets. Do you know anyone here on Earth who does that?
These lyrics in “Flawless” say exactly this:
Could it possibly be
That we simply can’t believe
That this unconditional
Kind of love would be enough
To take a filthy wretch like this
And wrap him up in righteousness
But that’s exactly what He did
In John Beehler’s Marvelous, Amazing Grace sermon he says, “The very heart of the gospel is the supreme truth that God accepts us with no conditions whatsoever when we put our trust in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus” This is what our faith in Christ is all about. We can’t live a single day without knowing this and believing in it if we are proclaiming to be a Christ follower. And, when we do this, we will continually feel the grace that is given. We will feel the freedom to live a life that is healthy, safe, and forgiven.
Because of Amazing Grace, we are complete. Christ = Amazing Grace. Because of Christ’s sacrifice we are completely forgiven, completely loved, plain ol’ complete. By Amazing Grace, we are saved. (Eph 2:5)
If you are tired of your old ways, tired of living unfulfilled and hurting. If you are desiring to live a life that is full of joy, start today.
It’s time to trade in your old, sinful ways. It’s time to become brand new and let go of our old sinful habits. It’s time to accept Christ as your savior in order to receive and enjoy the sweet, sweet song of Amazing Grace.
It’s time! Pick up your mug, your latte, your chai, your Earl Grey. Give praise to our Amazing Grace and ask him to be the King of your world, your Amazing Grace.