“But here’s a surprising characteristic about grace – grace chases you. You can run away and hide, but grace is relentless. Grace will chase you down.”- Kyle Idleman
“So he [Jesus] left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now he had to go through Samaria.”- John 4:3-4
In Chapter 2 (“More Beautiful Than Your Brokenness”) of Grace Is Greater, Kyle Idleman states that John 4 offers a crash course in grace. Specifically, John 4 tells of a beautiful collision between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. Also, Kyle notes, the words beautiful and collision seem to mix together like oil and water. He explains:
“Collision brings to mind words like broken, busted, and wrecked – not typically words that fit with beautiful. . . . When a broken, busted, and wrecked life collides with Jesus, it’s a beautiful thing.”
Yet, Kyle relates, a first-century Jewish person reading John 4:4 would interpret had to mean Jesus went through Samaria against his will- forced to take that route. However, from Jesus’ viewpoint, He planned this beautiful collision. As Kyle describes, “Grace chased this woman down and caught up with her at a well outside of town.”
Therefore, the Samaritan woman needed to stop hiding in her sin in order to receive the grace Jesus offered her. We face the same hard option. Even though we want to find another way, this truth confronts us. We must collide with the truth of our own sin before we collide with the grace of God.
In conclusion, Kyle stresses three false assumptions the Samaritan woman made about Jesus. These same assumptions cause us to miss His grace in our own lives. Pastor Idleman covers all three in the next blog.
Today’s question: Describe your experiences with this surprising characteristic about grace. Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “The worst thing that could happen”
