Drown in grace, that is.
I heard this song at Pine Cove and I'm pretty sure it's called "How He Loves Us". I don't know who sings it but I do know that there's this one line in there that says, "if His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking".
And, for me, I only see two kinds of people as pertaining to this song. People who fight the current and people to let it go. But yeah, you can have people who do both. I am certainly one of them.
When Jesus died for us, He gave us this immeasurable amount of grace. But there's a distinct difference between grace and mercy.
When I think of mercy, I think of someone who is about to be punished for whatever and the punisher says, "But I will be merciful on you and give you a lesser sentence/no punishment." You know, in some deep voice with a British accent. That's just how I picture it. Yeah, go ahead and reread that dialog in the accent. Anyway, mercy is not punishing us for what we deserve.
Grace, though, is God extending kindness and blessings even though we don't deserve it. So, on top of giving us mercy and not punishing us, we're also given blessings and love that is so far past what we deserve it can only be given by God.
So to get to the two people. The first are the fighters. Some of them feel absolutely unworthy of this precious gift and therefore do not want it. They don't want help. These are the people who feel like they can earn their way to Heaven and won't just accept the grace. Then there are others who just don't think that anyone can give that kind of gift out and don't believe in something so redeeming, or such a powerful Redeemer. They just don't think such a thing exists. Still more, some don't want to give up their lives enough to totally sink into the ocean. They know the grace is there, but they're terrified of letting go. It freaks them out. So, I guess there are sub-catagories to the fighters, but they all do the same thing--try not to drown. When this is the one thing you need to drown in.
However, there are people who just freely let go. They leap off the boat, or the diving board, or the side of the dock, or the beach, and just go. They're ready. They want to give their lives to Someone who will give them something so much better than what they have. They have such faith. They know that grace is one thing worth dying for. They know they will be blessed beyond all measures in this vast ocean. They want to sink. They will ignore the lifeguards, and the rafts, and the boats, and then rest in the ocean when they've gone far enough and be submerged and not fight it and are enveloped in this all-healing, all-consuming, all-powerful grace. They surrender. They give God everything they've got by sinking into that ocean of grace.
I'm a fighter and a sinker. Sometimes, I'm screaming, "No, no, no! I can do this. Don't touch me, God. I can do this all by myself. Don't worry about it." And I fight that current with my meager strength and the shore won't get any closer and I'm getting tired and I'm just wanting to control the situation when I very obviously can't. And when I finally realize that there's no way God's grace is ever going to stop, I stop fighting. My arms, exhausted, stop trying to propel myself forward; my legs quit treading. I don't even hold my breath when my head goes under. I breathe in and out--under this water. I feel a sense of peace. I know hurricanes will come my way but I'm in an ocean of solid grace, meaning that I will continue to be blessed and loved and cared for even when the height of the storm is on top of me.
I don't need the Coast Guard. Don't get me a rescue boat. Keep your life jackets. Let me sink. And, might I make a suggestion? Jump in with me. The water's just fine.
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