Theologian | Writer | Speaker

In the video Celebrate the Grip, I illustrate with the help of my friend Anthony the way we discover the grip of grace in this fallen world, the fact that, in the midst of our helplessness, Jesus embraces us at our worst. Importantly, I also make reference to the grip of creation, and how we learn about the grip of creation through re-creation.

So how do these two grips go together? Did God have a grip on us at creation and then let go? If God didn’t outright drop us, did we somehow slip away from him in our rebellion? If God had us, then lost us, then gripped us again, what kind of grip is THAT? Thankfully God is a lot more committed to us than we could ever be to him! The fact is that God NEVER let us go, and that is exactly why he came to rescue us. God the Son, Jesus Christ, came to destroy sin, death and the devil in order to redeem us and to transform our twisted thinking about God, so that we would know God’s true nature and be assured that nothing could ever separate us from his love.

Again, the way we learn this is uniquely through Jesus Christ and his incarnate life, death and resurrection: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38). Now we can see how the two grips, that of creation and redemption, are really one grip because of WHO is gripping us—our Creator and Redeemer is one and the same, Jesus Christ. So really, instead of two grips, the grip of creation and redemption are best understood as the one grip of the one Person (Jesus) revealed in two different ways! I elaborate on this theme in my booklet Celebrate the Grip, which I authored as a camp curriculum for teenagers. Contact me if you would like a copy. In the meantime, please consult the full Celebrate the Grip notes to best theologically contextualize the illustration.