I love a good book. More, I’m a sucker for good books with good theology, especially the kind that makes me tear up. One of the things I often preach to my congregation is that we are so quick to forget who God say we are and default to who we once were. This is something that plagues me and certainly plagues those in my church and as a result, I think, that often times we place an enormous amount of pressure on ourselves to fall back into the good grace of God. It is here that we, especially myself, begin to rely on my moral or religious performance to try and remind God that I’m not too terrible, but utterly forget about what grace is.

Yesterday, I was meeting with a member of our church and as she began to tell me about the amount of fear she has about failing, I shared with her that we often do one of two things with grace: we assume it or reserve it. In other words, when we assume grace, we believe that it’s a safety net. We don’t value and forget that grace is costly and it’s designed to conform us into the image of Christ (Romans 12:2). When we reserve grace, I think we beleve that grace is only something God give on special occasion rather than something He’s actually pouring out on to you at this very moment; grace is not conditional.

This is where Heikkinen’s book comes in. Wretched Saints is a beautifully written book about the relentless grace of God towards sinners. Heikkinen says it best, “The truth of the gospel is this: I am nothing more than a wretch and so much more than a saint.” Heikkinen’s love for Scripture throughout his book is evident and refreshing. He’s funny, honest, and transparent about himself and what God has revealed to him as a husband, father, and pastor. Additionally, he does a great job at capturing cultural awareness and leads you to saturate yourself everyday gospel rhythms.

Heikkinen’s patience in leading you through this wonderful paradox of being both a sinner and a saint comes with great encouragement and compelling exhortations wrapped in the gift of God’s word. My favorite quote from this book is his personal definition on grace:

“Grace is the ridiculously unwarranted and outrageously favorable posture of God that transforms wretched sinners into wretched saints and keeps at it until they look like Jesus.”

I love that! Grace is a gift of underserving favor from God toward sinners and it is continual. In a culture where truth is subjective and the church fights to hold fast to the truth of the gospel and who God says we are, Wretched Saints is a breath of fresh air.

MEMORABLE QUOTES

“Let me say it another way: you are meant to be a wretched saint. This is so that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can transform your wretchedness into the likeness of Jesus, until all that is left is the saint part. When you are tempted to think God isn’t pleased with you, remember that you are right where He wants you.”
“It’s not grace if the person deserves it.”
“You see, the more we experience grace, and the more it is injected into the crustiest parts of our souls, the more it alters our posture toward those who most desperately need it.”
“Our journey toward experiencing the liberating power of the gospel and extending it to others leads straight through the minefield of our own massive need for grace. Our ability to transfer grace to others is commiserate with the level to which we’ve been transformed by grace.”
“That’s the funny thing about grace: it’s a disruptive little bugger. It contains a unique power that destroys our finely tuned plans and carefully constructed facades. It exposes the faulty sensors we’ve believed and leads us back to eternal truth…the grace of God is so magnanimous that it even allows us to trample it underfoot, and yet it keeps coming at us anyway.”

Books: Wretched Saints (Review)

MEMORABLE QUOTES

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