Amazing Grace

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.

Your grace, Lord, never ceases to amaze me

What kind of music appeals to you?

My husband and I often say that we are drawn to music sung by people who lived the lyrics — for instance, Willie Nelson singing about being on the road again or Eric Clapton longing to see someone in Heaven. It’s moving and believable because they’re authentically singing about something they experienced.

John Newton knew what he was talking about when he wrote the words to “Amazing Grace.”

He knew where he had been and what he had done. Prior to becoming a Christian, Newton was the captain on a slave ship. It took a near-death experience, the faithful witness of his wife, and some literature on the life of Christ to result in his conversion. He then joined forces with William Wilberforce and became an abolitionist. His hymn shows that, like Paul before him (Romans 7:24), Newton was very much aware of his own wretchedness.

He lived his lyrics.

While Newton’s slave-trader-to-salvation story and Paul’s murderer-to-missionary testimony are exceptional, the grace given to you or me is no less amazing. It is an absolute miracle that anyone would be saved. We were all wretched, lost, and blind before Christ. There is no one worthy of salvation, and that is why “Amazing Grace” has resonated with believers for over two hundred years.

Your grace, Lord, never ceases to amaze me.

Excerpted from 100 Favorite Hymns, copyright Thomas Nelson.

My chains are gone, I've been set free

My God, my Savior has ransomed me

And like a flood His mercy reigns

Unending love

Amazing grace

Another character trait of God that we will not fully understand until we are in His presence… Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

Pastor Dale