Christian Comment with Martin Pearson, Pastor, Stroud Christian Fellowship

I’VE become a Grandpa for the first time.

I wasn’t expecting the rush of emotions that overwhelmed me.

The son that was born to me 28 years previously was now a father himself – and as a very proud Grandpa I was presented with Amelia-Rae.

No, she wasn’t just ‘another baby’ she was my grand-daughter.

As we sat and gazed intently at one another, this vulnerable baby didn’t do anything; she just lay there; she couldn’t talk or communicate but I was smitten - aware of just how much I loved her.

In that moment I was reminded of a line from a book by Philip Yancey called ‘What’s So Amazing About Grace’.

He says “there is nothing we can do to make God love us more…and nothing we can do to make God love us less”.

That’s how I felt at that moment with Amelia-Rae, there was nothing she could do to make me love her any more or any less - I just love her!

Now here’s the thing we need to try and get our heads around; God feels exactly the same about us!

It’s called ‘Grace’

Human society often runs by ungrace, ranking people, holding them accountable, insisting on reciprocity and fairness but grace is, by definition, unfair.

That intrigued me, in a world that tells us we have to do or achieve this or that, that we won’t be accepted unless we conform – God actually says he loves us for who we are not what we do.

We gain when we don’t deserve to.

Watching the film Les Miserables I saw grace being displayed again when the kind bishop not only refused to punish Jean Valjean for his theft, but instead lavished gifts on him—he received grace when he deserved just the opposite.

There’s a good reason why this musical captured the attention of the world.

It’s because in a desperate broken world we long for hope and love, we hunger for grace.

So take a moment today, realise you are loved by God more than you could possibly imagine, because you are you,

just as you are,

that’s enough – you can’t do anything to make God love you more and nothing you can do will make God love you less.

I will be reminded of this every time I hold Amelia-Rae, not least because Rae is Gallic for Grace.

@MartinKPearson