Paul Tripp participated in Mars Hill’s #bestsermonever series, and here’s a great reminder from Mark 6 of how God’s grace is uncomfortable.

This reminded me of a previous article arguing for “dark grace”:

God’s grace has a dark glint. God’s grace comes to Jonah in ways our prophet doesn’t always appreciate, and yet God’s grace changes him.

So often, this is the story of God’s work in Scripture. His grace doesn’t come soft and cuddly, but dark as the ocean depths. His dark grace came to the patriarch Jacob in a midnight wrestling match, that left Jacob deformed with a broken hip, but with a new identity in Israel and a new hope (Genesis 32). God’s dark grace came to Joseph when he was betrayed and sold by his own brothers into slavery, imprisonment, and bondage, yet transformed him into the Vice President of Egypt (Genesis 50:20). The dark grace took visible form when God descended on Mount Sinai in terror and smoke and fire, yet the slaves of Egypt were transformed into Israel, the holy nation unto Jehovah (Exodus 19). Our God rides on the wings of the storm, flashing lightning, exulting in the lion’s hunt, and delighting in the Leviathan (Job 38 – 41). Of course, the fullest expression of this “dark grace” is when the Father sent His own Son to taste death on the cross, so that we might be transformed and live (John 3:16).

O’Connor noted that “grace changes us, and change is painful.”

You can read the rest of the article here: “O’Connor, Dark Grace & Transformation”→