Chosen by Grace

Every once in a while I’m drawn to a collection of Christian poetry my parents gave me as a college graduation present. I have no idea what inspired them to select this particular book; yet (at the risk of further entrenching my reputation as an “artsy type”), I must admit that it has become one of my most treasured possessions.
 
There’s something about this particular book that speaks to my soul—something in the thoughtfully-chosen words and well-crafted metaphors that resonates so deeply within me that the pages somehow seem to express my own thoughts, my own feelings—my own story.

Perhaps that’s why this poem struck (and still strikes) me so powerfully.

CONVERSION

He was a born loser,
accident-prone too;
never won a lottery,
married a girl who
couldn’t cook, broke
his leg the day before
the wedding
and forgot the ring.
He was the kind
who ended up behind a post
in almost any
auditorium. Planes
he was booked to fly on
were delayed
by engine trouble
with sickening regularity.
His holidays at the beach
were almost always
ruined by rain. All
his apples turned out
wormy. His letters
came back marked
“Moved, left no
address.” And it was
his car that was cited
for speeding
from among a flock of others
going 60 in a
55 mile zone.

So it was a real shocker
when he found himself
elected, chosen by Grace
for Salvation, felt
the exhilaration of
an undeserved and wholly
unexpected Joy
and tasted, for the
first time, the Glory
of being on
the winning side.

Luci Shaw, 20th century

Although most of the hardships mentioned in the poem have likely never literally happened to you or me (for example, let me make it clear before I end up sleeping on the couch tonight that my wife is a very good cook), what is being expressed touches the inmost core of our beings. Like holding our hand up in an invisible “L” against our foreheads all day long, we all have a strong sense of our own inadequacies, failures and missteps. And, while the world exhorts us to become experts at masking these things with success, possessions and power, God invites us to embrace these things and allow them to do what they are meant to do—unmask our need for Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross.

So be courageous today. Acknowledge your shortcomings. Accept that you are limited. And let God shock you with the realization that, in spite of everything, you are chosen by grace. Feel the “exhilaration of an undeserved and wholly unexpected Joy.” You are on the winning side.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17 NIV)