Originally published Saturday, 20 June 2015.
What I don’t see anymore is the weight of not being enough...
of not matching up,
of striving to win affection,
so I feel valuable enough
and caring enough to get into heaven.
All that has faded as God's life-giving truth has surfaced...
I no longer see my Savior as a taskmaster
who lays down the law requirements of love.
Or as an authoritarian father ready to slap my hand if I do bad.
Or as the One who keeps me from feeling good about myself.
I no longer walk as a scared little girl who knows it's nearly impossible to win his affection or who feels, even if she won it in a second, it could be gone the next minute.
The weight of the world is no longer on my shoulders. It doesn't strain my black and blur my vision to barely make out the way to heaven, now it now sees the super-highway straight in.
The world and all it's trappings, the rules and all it's details, others and all their expectations, a heart for perfection and all it's burdens...all of those things are now distanced. They fade behind the horizon of Jesus Christ's all-consuming grace.
He has all of those things wrapped up in love and covered by his blood-soaked grace he won thousands of years ago on that cross in Calvary.
Grace:
- lifts the fear of what you are not, so God's love can shape all that you are.
- permanently places unsteady feet on the steady ground of acceptance.
- uncovers the heart of Jesus from the Word of God.
- wins the worst souls a spot in the best place - eternity.
- is never deserved but freely given through the blood of Christ.
- is the impetus that launches a heart to act in pure, holy and unselfish obedience.
- is the only thing that given to your failings, to make them whole.
Grace is like giving a the best gift to your worst enemy. It transforms them into your best friend. It brings the unity, it unites your spirits, it brings healing. It's beautiful.
God's grace can't stop. It's like a faucet that can't be turned off. It is ready to fill us up far beyond the second we realize that we really need to fill up. It's always running.
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble and oppressed. Ja. 4:6
Are you in humility turning to your Father non-stop to get grace
or are you assuming that you have all you need?
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb. 4:16
The more grace you find for the big things, for the little things, for the I-messed-up moments, for the arguments, for the accidental hiccups and for every little detail of your life, the more you can pour out onto a world in desperate need of a little love.
Grace makes us different. We are no longer acceptance suckers, we become whole. The world takes notice.
God stands ready to extend grace to all, but first all have to want it.
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. Titus 2:11
Let's make God's grace known.
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