What's So Amazing About Grace

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"What's So Amazing about Grace" by Philip Yancey, published by Harper Collins - review by Martin H

Difficult word, "grace", isn't it? Try this as an example of grace in daily life.

It's a dark, wet November Monday morning. You've dragged yourself out of bed, breakfasted (dry cornflakes again since the milkman was delayed on his round somewhere), dressed (why did you leave it until this morning to iron that shirt?), got into the car (no petrol - another delay whilst you go to fill up), and finally got on the road. At the first set of traffic lights, some boy racer "cuts you up", causing you to slam on the brakes and narrowly avoid a collision with a Mum accompanying her young children to school. Would "gracious" describe your reaction to the boy racer, or do you lean on the horn, curse (quietly or otherwise) and eventually drive on in a foul mood?

Not only is "grace" a difficult word - it's also incredibly hard to practise it.

Philip Yancey's wonderful and eminently readable book is first and foremost about God's grace towards mankind, but secondly about how Christians are called to practise grace in a world whose values are usually going in entirely the opposite direction. When he was released from prison, Nelson Mandela invited the Jewish judge who had sentenced him to imprisonment to a kosher dinner - that's grace in practice. You don't see a lot of it about. Grace describes a gift given to a person who has done nothing to deserve it, and it can transform the world we live in. Acts of grace can transform a workplace, a home, any relationship and a church. Acts of grace are sacrificial - the recipient hasn't earned them, and the giver has to overcome their all-too natural instincts to perform them. And the bad news folks is that as Christians we are called by God to set the example here! Tough isn't it?

"What's so Amazing about Grace" gives many examples of the way in which acts of grace can transform society. You can read it as a book, or you can read it in small chunks each day, since Philip Yancey's style lends itself to daily reading and reflection. But the bottom line is this.
Quoting from a British conference on comparative religions, where the members were grappling with the question "What (if any) belief is unique to the Christian faith?", the author cites CS Lewis (the now famous author and theologian) responding, "That's easy, it's grace!". Only Christianity dares to make God's love unconditional - something which runs quite counter to fundamental aspects of other religions, with emphases on 8-fold paths (Buddhism), obedience to the law (Judaism), karma (Hinduism) and the like.

As Christians, our salvation is undeserved, but God through Jesus has given it to us anyway! Or, as Philip Yancey says in the most quotable phrase in his book: "There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less".

Our response should be to spread grace throughout our society, wherever that may be. Reading this book is a wonderful help to grasping the simplicity of our own salvation, and giving some pointers as to how we should therefore live. I recommend it very highly. Or, as a minor act of grace, I am even happy to lend out my copy!
Martin H