I frequent the
Cato Blog, and this
post by David Boaz, the president of Cato, got my attention. It describes how the song came about, which I think I had heard before but forgot. The opening paragraph grabbed my attention.
Amazing Grace is a beautiful song, but I’ve never been entirely comfortable with it. I didn’t like that line “saved a wretch like me.” I don’t think I’m a wretch. Nor are most of my friends.
It is the discomfort caused by that line that makes the song so powerful. Many times, the biggest obstacle to understanding why we need Jesus Christ is the failure to recognize our own sinful nature. Sure, many of us are not child molesters or murderers, but we still fall short of God's standard.
David said
All have turned aside,
they have together become corrupt;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.
Strangely enough, I was thinking about that post and the song while driving to work, and the song "Grace like Rain", by
Todd Agnew, came on my iPod. It's a great remake of the original "Amazing Grace."
2 comments:
Amen! The closer we get to God, the farther away we realize we were, and the more amazed we are at his grace.
I have heard that some churches replace "wretch" with a gentler word. How pathetic.
I had a conversation with my dad about this a few weeks ago. He says he repents whenever he feels the need.
I told him I don't verbally repent to God, because repentence is more than an act, it's a condition. It's being repentent.
Kind of like the fact that sometimes we pray for our food, and sometimes we don't. Are we any less thankful because we didn't say a prayer. I don't think so. It's a CONDITION of thankfulness.
It is being this wretch that causes me to be in a constant condition of repentence.
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