What's so amazing about grace?

Well, let's clear the air first. This post isn't throwing stones. The recent news about Philip Yancey isn't news at all.  Except, for some reason, it is. Hence the New York Times and most major media outlets have covered it since it came out. 

Tullian Tchividjian knows a thing or two about what Yancey is going through. He's been to the bottom (haven't we all in one way or another?) and come out in love with the God of grace. And I quite admire his writings on God's one way love and grace. I've used this story that Tullian tells many times in different situations for different people. It never fails to deliver. 

She went to her pastor and said, “Pastor, I had an abortion a number of years ago.” “OK,” the Pastor replied. “Well, I need to talk to you about the man I’ve since married.” “Alright,” replied the Pastor.

“Well, we met a while back, and started dating and I thought, I need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. Then things got more serious between us and I thought, I need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. A while later we got engaged and I thought, I need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. Then we got married and I thought, I really need to tell him about the abortion. But I just couldn’t. So I needed to talk to someone, Pastor, and you’re it.”

The Pastor replied, “You know, we have a service for this. Let’s go through that together.” So they did—a Service of Confession and Absolution whereby she confessed and the pastor reminded her of God’s forgiveness.

When they were finished, she said to him, “Thank-you, Pastor. Now I think I have the courage to tell my new husband about my abortion.”

And the Pastor replied to her, “What abortion?”

THE SINS WE CAN’T FORGET, GOD DOESN’T REMEMBER. (Hebrews 8:12)

So, tangentially, back to Yancey. The news about him isn't news or it shouldn't be. Tullian rightly points out that Christians should not be surprised when broken people break things. He goes on to say: 

"I have a friend who once said that all of us are three bad days away from becoming a tabloid headline and most of us are already on day two. All have fallen short, across every culture, vocation, ideology, and persuasion under the sun. Sin is a shared, ever-present reality, something that clings to all of us. All of us.

So if our theology leaves us stunned by human failure, it may be worth asking whether we’ve quietly believed in ourselves more than we realized."

Here's the thing: I don't care about the fact that I now know one of the sins Yancey is guilty of. Guess what: he's guilty of even more. As I remind myself regularly:

Well may the accuser roar Of all the sins I’ve done; I know them all and thousands more; Jehovah knoweth none.

If you haven't heard of Yancey, then I suggest you check him out. I've read a number of his books and found them all excellent. Here are three I highly recommend:

• The Jesus I Never Knew
• What's So Amazing About Grace?
• Where The Light Fell

If you read these works then, perhaps, your worldview will shift and you'll stop be surprised by the fact that no one is perfect, including the people we look up to, and instead start being left in awe of this amazing truth conveyed by Yancey that "Grace declares that we are still God’s pride and joy."