Amazing Grace

What kind of music appeals to you?

My husband and I often say that we are drawn to music sung by people who lived the lyrics — for instance, Willie Nelson singing about being on the road again or Eric Clapton longing to see someone in Heaven. It’s moving and believable because they’re authentically singing about something they experienced.

John Newton knew what he was talking about when he wrote the words to “Amazing Grace.”

He knew where he had been and what he had done. Prior to becoming a Christian, Newton was the captain on a slave ship. It took a near-death experience, the faithful witness of his wife, and some literature on the life of Christ to result in his conversion. He then joined forces with William Wilberforce and became an abolitionist. His hymn shows that, like Paul before him (Romans 7:24), Newton was very much aware of his own wretchedness.

He lived his lyrics.

While Newton’s slave-trader-to-salvation story and Paul’s murderer-to-missionary testimony are exceptional, the grace given to you or me is no less amazing. It is an absolute miracle that anyone would be saved. We were all wretched, lost, and blind before Christ. There is no one worthy of salvation, and that is why “Amazing Grace” has resonated with believers for over two hundred years.

Your grace, Lord, never ceases to amaze me.

Excerpted with permission from 100 Favorite Hymns, copyright Thomas Nelson.

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Your Turn

Has the grace of Jesus overwhelmed you to amazement? We wretches were lost and then we were found, blind and then given sight! How amazing! Thank You, Jesus! ~ Devotionals Daily