Book Review: Surprised by Grace

What’s your Nineveh?  What are you running from?  Where is God telling you to go?  Surprised by Grace by Tullian Tchividjian is subtitled: God’s relentless pursuit of rebels.  What an incredible idea to consider.  Even when we are running from Him into our own selfish and sinful oblivion, God is still pursuing us with reckless abandon.  Even when I recognize this, I have to admit that I am so guilty of forgetting this necessary truth.  Pastor Tullian used the story of Jonah to demonstrate what God’s grace looks like even in the bleakest of situations.

Below I have pasted some things that I highlighted while reading.  By posting them, I hope you will hold me accountable to this knowledge that I now have.

• To get a better grip on the gospel, maybe what we need most is to be startled…and surprised…even shocked by it.
• Real change does not and cannot come independently of the gospel, which is the good news that even though we’re more defective and lost than we ever imagined, we can be more accepted and loved than we ever dared hope, because Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again for sinners like you and me.  God intends this reality to mold and shape us at every point and in every way.  It should define the way we think, feel, and live.
• Real spiritual growth happens only as we continually rediscover the gospel.
• Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice…you shall be my treasured possession. Exodus 19:5
• To flee from God is to rise against God.
• Every time we sin, we’re telling God, “My way of navigating this particular situation is better than yours.  My wisdom and skill are more efficient and more effective in this moment than you wisdom and skill.”
• Do you know what would happen if every human being concluded that God’s way was the right way and God’s call the right call?  Every human problem would come to an end.  The root of every human problem is our desire to be our own god and to carry out justice in the way we ourselves are sure is best.
• As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.  Psalm 103:13
• You can’t outrun God.
• God’s mercy is massive.
• Grace can be defined as unconditional acceptance granted to an undeserving person by an unobligated giver.
• Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16
• God doesn’t hold grudges.
• For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Corinthians 5:21
• God doesn’t budge.  He doesn’t negotiate.
• One expression of God’s amazing grace is that he pursues our rescue even though we cannot do one thing for him.
• God chooses defeated people to do dominant things.
• For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. 2 Corinthians 13:4
• The gospel frees us from the pressure to generate our own significance and meaning.  In Christ, our identity and significance are secure, which frees us up to give everything we have, because in Christ we have everything we need.
• Living for anteing else besides God leads us to death, not freedom.
• “You made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Augustine
• God gets the last word.
• “If we are to succeed in living by grace, we must come to terms with the fact that God is sovereign in dispensing His gracious favors, and He owes us no explanation when His actions do not correspond with our system of merits.” Jerry Bridges
• In unforgettable events and imagery, the story of Jonah reveals how this perfectly patient God pursues fugitives–a God who has every right to give up on rebels like us and to move on, but doesn’t.  It’s a story that reveals forever the heart of God for sinners from every race, every age, and every social class.
• But God, being rich in mercy made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved.  Ephesians 2:4-5
• The good news is that God’s ability to clean things up is infinitely greater than our ability to mess things up.
• We’ve been redeemed by God to become agents of renewal.
• Our daily sin requires God’s daily grace–the grace that comes to us through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
• Mercy triumphs over judgment.  James 2:13
• There’s no freer place to be in life than going with him–with the One who is himself our true liberty.