Riding An Ox
May 28th, 2009, 6:19 pm · 4 Comments · posted by apetty
Grace is God’s acceptance of us all as though we are perfect children of his, now. This is God’s attitude towards all humanity great and small. Thus, potentially, every human is already saved. But though this is God’s loving attitude towards every person each person must realize and believe in this acceptance in their inner depths for it to be effective, transformative of personality and saving of life.
Grace is held by many Christians as an intellectual concept and it does not do them much good. One must experince grace, feel it in his mental, soul depths as one experiences the taste of excellent food and feels its exquisite pleasure all the way down his gullet, into his stomach and gastronomical tract, exploding and emanating pleasurable feeling throughout his body. Grace alleviates the burdens of our psyche and gives a lightness of heart when we experience it because we are accepted by the Divine as we are as though we are perfect now in spite of our sins.
This kind of grace is the basis of Dr. Thomas Harris’ book on Transactional Analysis, a classic written in 1969 titled, “I’m OK; You’re OK.” It is based on St. Paul’s preaching of the gospel of the grace which we have just described.
Realizing that one is OK is becoming aware that one’s worth is already present within us placed there by God when he created us. It and our life are a gift. Nothing can take this worth away from us. When we become aware of this acceptance it will burn within us with cleansing fire. It will through a process of our learning to accept our worth enable us to do all things necessary with a sense of peace and power.
Many spend their lives trying to earn a sense of worth from sources outside themselves and they never find lasting peace. Our worth is a gift within us already, there by God’s grace.
Salvation can be pictured by the the Zen image of a man riding on an ox looking for an ox and finally realizing he has an ox already. You are a child of God already, accept and live the implications of this.
The great commission of Matt. 28:18-20 has an internal as well as an external meaning. External: Go to all nations and teach them the good news, yes. Internal: But at the same time take this good news of the gift of God’s loving acceptance to all your inner selves bringing them peace because you do not have to earn your worth and acceptance
(I am thankful to John Claypool’s “Opening Blind Eyes,” p. 59 and 61 for the ox and great commission illustration, Abingdon Press, 1983.)
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Grace is a very hard thing for me to really really take in. It’s not so much the feeling that I have to work to earn my salvation as it is the feeling that I have a responsibility to “be” a certain way.
answer to annie :May I suggest: May I suggest that every time you think of God that you think and affirm that you are loved and accepted as though you are his perfect child. And then affirm that He is helping you to live, move and have your being in Him as one who is accepted and filled with the courage to be as one who has acceptance. Do this habitually when you are up and when you are down and God’s acceptance and the gift oenabling you more and more to just be who you are naturally without a tiring sense of obligation. You will grow in living responsibly without the burden of obligation. Grace is not something you take in. It si the awareness that you already have it within you as the gift of your Creator.Relax into the hands of the Holy Lover and let him love you by accepting this already present gift within you…….If I am missing the mark inwhat I say to you here, feel free to let me know. Whatever we wish you the very best in your spiritual growth and we love hearing from you.
Wow. Thank you Apetty for the comment and the direction to John Claypool, one of the truly holy men of our age.
answer to j smith: Thank you for reading and writing. I agree with you. Jon Claypool was a wonderful person of grace. I used to listen to his sermons on tape when he was at Second Baptist in Lubbock. I jhope to hear from you again.