Irish Proverbs – Of Love and Ugliness

Folíonn grá gráin – “Love veils ugliness”

Perhaps the most perplexing question I’ve ever considered is this: “Why Grace?”  Why would God love me?  There is nothing to commend myself to God.  There is nothing in me that would be in any way attractive to Holiness.  I am but a lowly creature and God is the lovely Creator.

I break God’s Law, I impugn His Name, I spit on His Mercies and I do not love my fellow urchins.  I am ungrateful, irresponsible, and I dwell too much on wickedness.  There is nothing beautiful in me and nothing that is truly loveable.

Yet …  God still loves me.

I am a wicked man.  Perfection is as much an impossibility for me that it is nigh impossible to concoct anything more impossible.

Yet, God loves me.

In fact, He loves me enough to sacrifice His perfect and utterly loving and loveable Son on my behalf.

It is this great truth that is the key.  In Christ, my lack of righteousness is veiled in the covering of Christ’s perfect righteousness.  In His great love for me, God sent His Son to die so that I might be cleansed by His blood and covered in the white robes of His holy obedience.  In Christ, my sinful ugliness is veiled and covered in Christ’s righteous loveliness.  In Christ, my God’s love covers my repulsiveness.

The beauty of such a reality?  There is absolutely nothing we can do to earn God’s love and favor.  Nothing at all.  We are complete sinners completely at the mercy of a holy God.  Yet, in Christ we can be saved, loved and fully accepted into relationship with the Father, the God of the all things.

Believe in Christ and be saved.  So hard, yet so very easy.  Believe in Christ.