WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson | Tag Archive | grace
Tag Archive - grace

No Strings Attached

June 7, 2010 in Spiritual Growth with 42 Comments

We’ve spent the last three weeks in a series entitled “People of the Second Chance.” I wanted to say a special thanks to Mike and Jud for their ministry which is the inspiration behind the series. They’ve modeled what radical grace looks like for the entire Kingdom.

Yesterday, I spend the majority of my time talking about the parallels between the father in Luke 15 and our Father in Heaven.

I’m still blown away by beautiful picture Jesus gives us of the heart of God. It erases so many of the misconceptions we have.

Here’s my favorite part of the passage in Luke 15…

21″The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22″But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

These symbols prove full forgiveness and restoration of the son to his prior status. The robe is a sign of great distinction, the ring the sign of authority, the sandals a luxury (only slaves were barefooted) and the slaughter of the fattened calf the sign of a very important celebration in the family.

This is not only radical grace, but complete restoration.

Please hear this: SIN DOES NOT MAKE YOU SECOND CLASS.

Too often the church today wants to offer…

limited grace

conditional grace

strings attached grace.

It’s “You’re forgiven but we’re going to be keeping an eye one you.”

It’s “You’re welcome back in the church but you’ll never be able to be in ministry again.”

Can I just say that when God looks at you he doesn’t see a

prodigal

servant

or screw up.

He sees His son…His daughter…

complete

whole

forgiven

restored…completely.

No strings attached.

My Problem Isn’t With Tiger, the Media, or His Sponsors

December 18, 2009 in God with 62 Comments

tiger-woods

Like many of you I’ve been unable to escape the constant media attention given to the Tiger Woods scandal. Does it seem ironic to anyone else that the media is giving Tiger such a hard time for living out the lifestyle they portray on almost every single television show they air?

But to be honest, my problem isn’t with the media outlets. They’re just doing what they do. Feeding ratings.

My problem isn’t with the sponsors who are either ditching Tiger or standing beside him. They’re just doing what they do. Making money.

My problem is with the millions of Christians (including myself) who have jumped right in and used this as an opportunity to throw stones.

I thought my friend, Mike Foster, wrote an absolutely amazing blog post on this topic a couple days ago. I couldn’t agree more with his suggestions (#3 alone I will never forget).

As People of the Second Chance, here are a few of my suggestions:

1. You have so many words that you can share in a day. Decide whether they will be about blessing or cursing someone.

2. When someone is caught in a scandal, I visualize two buckets that I can fill. I can add to the “Shame Bucket” or the “Second Chance Bucket.” Sometimes my first/easy/fun/human nature response is to fill the “Shame Bucket” so I have to work harder not to do that.

3. For all you online peeps…write your articles, blogs, tweets, and comments as if the person in crisis (and their family) were reading it. Why? Because they do! And the jokes, snarky comments, sloppy facts and flippant remarks hurt people. Instead, devote your computer keyboard to the restoration of people.

4. Refuse to participate in the gossip session around the water cooler. Or better yet, jump in and turn the conversation towards grace and second chances. BTW, just plan on being called a “buzz kill” and not invited back to any more social functions.

5. Realize we are either part of the judgment problem or the grace solution. But we can’t be both. So choose wisely.

What are your thoughts?

Courage

January 20, 2009 in Leadership, Relationships, Religion, Videos with 46 Comments

I felt led to kind of stick with the “going first” theme this week on Without Wax. Here’s a video of a young lady here at Cross Point whose going through an awful lot right now but chose to “go first” this past weekend. She risked criticism, pointed fingers, and judgement and in my book that takes a lot of courage.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/2895945]

“The Tsunami Comes And There Is No Escape”

May 19, 2008 in Cross Point Church, God, Leadership, Religion with 23 Comments

Not sure if everyone saw this in the comments, so I thought I would post it. This is Brad’s response to my post entitled “A Lump In My Throat” from Friday and the comments you guys made. Thank you, Brad, for being so transparent with us. You and your family are in all of our thoughts and prayers.

Pete–first of all, thanks for the love and friendship you have expressed in your tender, honest comments. And to those on both sides of the ‘feelings’ spectrum…I understand. I’ve been on both sides, equally disdaining myself, and seeking a way to forgive.

To Judas and Bill…the consequences of sin are as sure as God’s nature. The tsunami comes and there is no escape. I cannot stop it. I cannot contain it. I cannot limit it.

The issue I’ve pondered is the contribution unkind people make to this. Is this their right? Is their responsiblity? Does God need them to weigh in on this, or add hostility?

I have concluded: No

The consequences that have a unique spiritual dimension are phenomenal. Suffocating. Staggering. No help needed.

So, the role of Samaritan, care-giver, back-rubber, bandage-provider becomes supreme. Without such men and women, those of us bleeding out from self-inflicted sin, would in fact, bleed out.

A couple of points are helpful for insight: I wasn’t caught. I wasn’t fired. The weight of my sin tore at me, I spiraled into depression and couldn’t recover. I confessed to my wife and to my two beautiful daughters (hardest moments of my life). Then, I resigned from the church. It was nearly a month later that I voluntarily met with Elders to address community rumors that were just then surfacing.

for Scot Justice–I appluad your care for my ex-wife and my kids. I would give my life if I could un-rip their hearts. However, I have and continue to have so many conversations with them about the harm I have done them…but for them, I keep that aspect of the conversation out of the blog.

Regarding friends and others being allowed to react with anger, hatred, (fill in an adverb)…here is the most recent part of me that God is forming…How in the world can I hope for grace unless I can give grace to sinners? How in the world can God form a grace-giving heart in me without continuously keeping grace-needy people in proximity to me?

I am in their life so that God can form good stuff in them. They are in my life so He can form good stuff in me. And so it goes…

Regarding future ministry…uh, no. Can’t see it. Not qualified. It’s gonna be a back row, head down, annonymous in church thing for a bit. God can drag me in the game. He did it 30 years ago, so I’m confident He knows how…but….uh, no.

The blog-world is my vomit bucket or pulpit, depending on the day, because I have come to know I must put thoughts to words and express the words…that has been such a part of my life.

Anyway, you are sweet people if you read this far. Thanks. And Pete….you rock. Thank you, brother

Brad Johnson

Grace at Lowe’s?

April 19, 2008 in God, Leadership, Religion with 26 Comments

Yesterday morning I wrote about my desire to be a part of a community in which we attempt to make this world a little more like God intended by our existence.

I ended with a question yesterday that simply said, “What is one thing you can do today that will make this world more like God intended?” I went ahead and answered my own question by saying “Today, I want to extend grace.” Sounded like a good thing, a kind of Christian-like thing to say.

Three hours later I found myself in the checkout line at Lowe’s here in Nashville. The cashier, Gail, was not the quickest cashier in the store. I guess you could say she was down right slow. I knew as I watched her check out the customer in front of me that I was in for an ‘experience’. Then it was my turn.

This poor lady was a disaster. She couldn’t do anything right. She couldn’t find the bar codes. She couldn’t find the prices in her book. When it was time to pay up she couldn’t figure out how to swipe the card. She canceled out my transaction twice and we had to re-scan everything. My first thoughts were, “Are you kidding me. Come on lady, I don’t have time for this. Get with it. How hard can this be?”

Than it hit me…this is it. This is your chance. Extend grace now. I started to think about how difficult her life was. I can’t imagine that in her mid-thirties this was where she thought she would be in life. Is she a single mom? Is she struggling to make it financially and this new job is exactly what she needs? Is she lonely? Is she scared? Is she overwhelmed and having a hard time balancing it all?

The more I questioned myself the more my heart started to soften. For the next 15 minutes (yes, it was actually 15 minutes) I had the opportunity to try to help her pull it together. I tried to make her laugh and assured her that we all have days like this. I tried to calm her down by telling her to take her time and I was in no big rush. I can’t tell you how many times she apologized and commented on how thankful she was for my patience (patience…those of you who know me are laughing right now).

I don’t tell this story to say “Hey, look at me and the good things I’m doing,” but rather to say, when you ask God for opportunities he will deliver. When we commit to allow God to use our lives to make this world a little more like He intended, He will use us.

looking for more opportunities,

pete

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