I have been inspired by the story of the prodigal Luke 15. It is a great story from Jesus to the pharisees of why he hangs out with sinners. We can learn so much from this for our own lives and our attitude to reaching lost people with God's grace.
But first we need to experience grace. How do most Christians respond to grace? I have met so many that still feel bad for the things they did many years ago. Or they made a few mistakes through the week and now wonder what does God think of me? Would Jesus want to hang out with me now?
Through this story I see that through Grace, God the father runs to us just like the father did in this story. He hugs us with an embrace that accepts us no matter what we've done. While preparing these messages I came across the free hugs video.
We watched this video in church the night I preached about the hug. I think you need to experience a hug to relate to Grace hugging you.
In Japanese culture hugging is kind of a thing that is not done and is even considered childish. The bow is all about respect but no hugging is carried on in the general culture. I have heard many responses to this but I will write more later.
The night I preached on hugging it was good to see the church embracing each other and showing acceptance to each other.
The grace of God wants to run and embrace you, to give you big bear hug.
