"The Influence of Grace"

Hey, y'all,

Have had this sitting in my "on-deck circle" of RSTs for months -- seems like a good place to talk about it.

"...No man who has the true ideal of what constitutes a perfect character will fail to manifest the sympathy and tenderness of Christ. The influence of grace is to soften the heart, to refine and purify the feelings, giving a heaven-born delicacy and sense of propriety...

"A religion that leads men to place a low estimate upon human beings, whom Christ has esteemed of such value as to give Himself for them, a religion that would lead us to be careless of human needs, sufferings, or rights, is a spurious religion...

"It is because men take upon themselves the name of Christ, while in life they deny His character, that Christianity has so little power in the world."

—E G White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, pp. 135-137

A couple of 'ouches' there:
Can't say I haven't (on a regular basis, good grief!) failed to "manifest the sympathy and tenderness of Christ" -- but I'm sure it's probably just me :-). And that's pretty potent stuff there at the end: "It is because men take upon themselves the name of Christ, while in life they deny His character, that Christianity has so little power in the world." How true is that?!? And how significant exactly is my contribution to that depressing little equation?

Interesting how grace isn't described as some namby-pamby soft-and-fuzzy little nothing; it's characterized as having powerful, transformative power. Thus, if I'm not being consistently changed by my acceptance of God's grace (manifested as a vital, life-altering relationship with Him), how authentic was the 'grace experience' really?

You've been prayed for today...

J