What's so Amazing about Grace?

What's so Amazing about Grace is a book by Philip Yancey that my Bible Study is reading.  Its a great book because its full of truth.  It has been wonderful for me to read because I am enjoying learning about the full definition of grace.  I do not think I can fully understand God's grace until I get to heaven because I don't think I see all of my sin to the depth that I should because of struggles of the human flesh--like self-righteousness and justifying everything that I do.  Sound familiar? I would like to share some things that I have highlighted so far. 

• "Good things come not from our own effots, rather by the grace of God.
• What I needed more than pardon was a sense that God accepted me, owned me, held me, affirmed me, and would never let go of me even if he was not too much impressed with what he had on his hands.
• I came to know a God who is, in the words of the psalmist, "a compassionate and gracious God, and slow to anger, abounding in love, and faithfulness."
• This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found"-and then adds a buoyant phrase, "they began to make merry."  What blocks forgiveness is not God's reticence-"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him"-but ours.  God's arms are always extended; we are the ones who turn away.
• In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
• Grace does not depend on what we have done for God but rather what God has done for us.
• Remember, merciful Jesus That I am the cause of your journey.  I think he remembers.
• Our attitude towards others:  A humble awareness that God has already forgiven us a debt so mountainous that beside it any person's wrongs against us shrink to the size of anthills.  How can we not forgive each other in light of all God has forgive us?
• As C.S. Lewis put it, "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you."
• I deserved punishment and got forgiveness.  I deserved wrath and got love.  I deserved debtor's prison and got instead a clean credit history.  I deserved stern lectures and crawl-on-your-knees repentance; I got a banquet-spread for me. 
• God will go to any preposterous length to get his family back.
• But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.
• Paul harped on grace because he knew what could happen if we believe we have earned God's love. In the dark times, if perhaps we badly fail God, or if for no good reason we simply feel unloved, we would stand on shaky ground.  We would fear that God might stop loving us when he discovers the real truth about us.  Paul-"the chief of sinners" he once called himself-knew beyond doubt that God loves people because of who God is, not because of who we are.
• Grace is free because the giver himself has borne the cost.
• Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.  Why then, do I so often act as if I am trying to earn that love?  Why do I have such trouble accepting it?
• Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more. And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less.  Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love. 
• There is a simple cure for people who doubt God's love and question God's grace; to turn to the Bible and examine the kind of people God loves.
• And grace means there is nothing I can do to make God love me more, and nothing I can do to make God love me less.  It means that I, even I who deserve the opposite, am invited to take my place at the table in God's family.

So, thats only from chapters 1-5...I am sure more good stuff to come.  These truths have meant very much to me in the last month because I had been blurred by the world's view of life. 
Today, on my 27th birthday, I am so thankful that the Lord is continuing to teach stubborn and faithless at times me.  Life is a blessing and every year is an opportunity to know Him more fully and make His name great while we are still here to accomplish his purposes.