An Excerpt

I'm slowly making my way through Blue Like Jazz. I keep backing up and re-reading whole sections and putting it aside to think on it and really absorb the concepts. It's amazing how this author captures such 'simple' things as Grace, Faith, and Redemption. I've been a Christian since I was a child. I went to Bible College. These are not new concepts to me, yet, somehow, it seems as I read about God's Grace my eyes are being opened anew.

For instance:
Rick says that I will love God because he first loved me. I will obey God because I love God. But if I cannot accept God's love, I cannot love Him in return, and I cannot obey Him. Self-discipline will never make us feel righteous or clean; accepting God's love will. The ability to accept God's unconditional grace and ferocious love is all the fuel we need to obey Him in return. Accepting God's kindness and free love is something the devil does not want us to do. If we hear, in our inner ear, a voice saying we are failures, we are losers, we will never amount to anything, this is the voice of Satan trying to convince the bride that the groom does not love her. This is not the voice of God. God woos us with kindness, He changes our character with the passion of His love.

I know all of this, but the part that really gets to me is the part about accepting God's love. The build up to this paragraph is a story that truly opens one's eyes to what accepting God's grace is. I've not heard grace explained in this way before and it's really helped me to understand myself a little better. If accepting God's grace, love or forgiveness is something you struggle with, you definitely need to read this book.