Grace at its Best

Life is busy currently. I like it, but I hate it at the same time. I'm tired, stressed and trying to wait patiently until I return to Mt. Hermon. Its a couple tests, research papers and quizzes away! I have NO idea what is going to happen this summer. Nervous? A little. Excited? TREMENDOUSLY.

This last week I've been learning a lot about Grace. God's Grace. Now, as Christians, we hear that word everyday. Its one of those words we hear so many times that it almost seems to lose its meaning. Saved by Grace. What does that mean to you?

God's been teaching me so much...yet at the same time, I've been wrestling with God (reminds me of when Jacob wrestled with God). I've been wrestling with God, because I have been struggling with wanting things to happen in my own time rather than relying on God to give me the strength to wait patiently for His Good and Perfect plans for my life to unfold. I'm struggling because I try to do things my way. On my own. I want to be in charge. So where does Grace fall into here?

Lets just say that sometimes my human self says, "Ok God...well if I do THIS then maybe I will get THAT." How. Foolish. I. Am. I cannot do anything to manipulate God! I mean...c'mon! How absurd is that? For one thing, I am depending on my works to earn favor in God's eyes....which in actual reality, His love for me stays the same because I am covered by the blood of the Lamb. God's grace is receiving something that I do not deserve. I do not deserve the grace of God...yet He freely gives it to us. Anything contrary to that is not the Gospel. Not by what we have done, but what Jesus has done. I got to remind myself constantly of this. And at the same time, I am not called to keep living in my sin, but to live a life for Christ sharing the Gospel with others. I have once heard it said like this: if I keep sinning, its like running up to Jesus as He's dying on the cross and giving Him a high five, "Thanks, Jesus! You're great! Ok, well, I'm gonna go back to my (insert sin here). I'll come back and give you another high five soon! Later!" Thats absurd. And to be quite frank....disgusting (Gal 5:1,13, Rom. 8)

Ultimately, I got to remind myself that God loves me and sees me pure in His sight because of His Son. With the help of His Spirit, I persevere through this race. He strengthens me. He helps me. I will fail, but until that day when He returns, I will be made complete.

In the mean time, I must focus on His calling for me where I am at in life right now. Its hard waiting. Nobody said it was going to be easy.

What makes it freeing is that I am saved by His grace. Not by what I can do. But what He has already done.

Amen.