…Much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. Rom 5:15
I’ve been contemplating the grace of God in my life for many years and especially since Steve and I started the church in 2010. I’ve come to realize that I will never truly understand why God chose me except for His amazing grace. Without the gift of His Son, my beloved Savior, it would have been utterly impossible to ever truly know the joy of forgiveness and the hope of new life.
As we begin 2016 I can’t think of a better post than to share with you the story behind the classic hymn Amazing Grace. Oh how I’ve been lifted up when I have fallen and what cause for rejoicing has been restored when I read the stanza’s of this hymn and remember the story of how it was written. (This is taken from “The One Year Christian History and The One Year Book of Hymns.)
John Newton, the son of a sea captain, was born in London in 1725. When he was six he lost his mother, but before she died, she prayed that he would become a minister. Choosing another path, Newton went to sea with his father at age eleven. After an unsuccessful stint in the Royal Navy, he went to work for a slave trader. As things went from bad to worse in his life, he hit rock bottom. For two long years he was hungry and destitute. Then in 1747 he began working once more on a slave ship.
In March 1748 Newton had an experience that changed him forever. He wrote in his journal: “Among the few books we had on board one was Thomas a’ Kempis; I carefully read it as I had done before, to pass away the time, but I had still read it with the same indifference as if it was entirely a romance. As I was reading a thought arose in my mind-what if these things are true?”
He went to bed that night but was awakened by a fierce storm. Within a few minutes the ship was a virtual wreck. The crew worked frantically and plugged the leaks. In his exhaustion Newton heard himself say to the captain, “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us.” This was the first time he had desired God’s mercy in years. Then the thought ran through his mind, “What mercy can there be for me?” As the storm continued he sadly concluded that there had never been a sinner as wicked as he and that his sins were too great and too many to be forgiven.
His journal records the deliverance from the storm and his spiritual deliverance as well: “This is a day much to be remembered by me. On March 21st 1748 the Lord sent from on high and delivered me out of the deep waters…” Later he wrote: I stood in need of an Almighty Savior, and such a one I found in the New Testament…I was no longer and infidel; I heartily renounced my former profaneness, and was sincerely touched with a sense of the undeserved mercy I had received in being brought safe through so many dangers.
Finally he left the sea behind and in 1764 at the age of thirty-nine John Newton began a new life as a minister in the Church of England, later writing his autobiographical hymn, “Amazing Grace.” When it was suggested he retire (at age eighty-two) due to poor health and failing memory, he responded, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”
Ladies, let’s take this wonderful story and the scriptures that are rich with the kindness of His grace into this New Year and live gratefully in the amazing grace of our amazing God! Below are two of the stanza’s of this hymn.
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound-
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!