When it comes to grace there are usually 2 extremes that are both wrong. One being that if I call myself a Christian there is no room for error. And the other being that because of grace I can "mess up" as much as I want. And I have met many Christians on both ends of that spectrum. However, today what I really want to say is that we can't live in the fear of messing up. And I will wrap that around this one statement. "Are you a living, breathing human?....ok, then you ARE going to mess up." There, now that we have that all clear and out in the open we can take a deep breath and relax a little. And here is another revelation....God knew we were going to mess up too.
Like I stated a moment ago, one side people take on the grace topic is that they can really live how they want because God's grace has them covered. And for that thought, let me use this scenario. If you are in school, or when you went to school or college...if you ever had a parent who said to you "hey, I know your not always going to get perfect grades. It's ok that you bomb a test every once in a while, or mess up your homework every once in a while. It's going to happen. There are tests you will think you were prepared for, but you just won't do well"....then you may understand what it is like to have the pressure taken off of you to be "perfect". However, if that was said to you, it did not mean "hey, you can flunk as many tests as you want, you can screw up your homework every night, you don't even have to try to apply yourself.....don't worry about it". But for some reason, if we take that same logic and apply it to God's grace, some people do see it that way. Yes, God's grace covers all (thank God...literally). It covers all who believe in Him, and it covers all sins. But it is not a license to just blow it. It is not a reason to just live how you want...as careless as you want..not applying yourself to His ways...not attempting to make good choices that will draw you closer to God. And it certainly is not a reason to not try to be ready for every "test" that comes your way! His Holy Spirit is our helper....so lean on Him for help.
So....having said all of that, the point of this blog was about saying "you are going to mess up sometimes. Don't feel like you are failing God". If God knew we were going to mess up even before we did, that removes the guilt of thinking we have "failed Him". As I always say on most topics I write about, it's all a matter of the heart. God looks into our heart and sees that we are truly sad that we committed that sin, or that we could really care less. So the important part is the we don't let the sin cause distance between us and Him. When, not if, we mess up, we just need to go before Him and humbly say "God, You already know what I did, so I just need to say sorry. Your word says I'm forgiven, so I know that's not even a question. But right now I am asking for You're help and You're strength to not repeat this again and again. Remove the parts of my heart that cause me to fall back into sin and draw me closer to You." Then, let it go....that's it. It's done, it's confessed and it is forgiven. Do not let the enemy beat you up over a sin that you have already taken before the Lord. That is why it is so important to take them to God as soon as possible. This removes the chance for the enemy to get into our head and try to cause that distance between us and God.
The fact is, God sent Jesus to cover our sins, yes, but He also sent Him because He knew we were going to sin. And that is love. To say, I KNOW you're going to do things to hurt me and go against My Word, but I need you to know that before you even do it, it was forgiven. I can't even wrap my head around that kind of love and forgiveness. He amazes me more every day!
God, Help us know that we need to chase after the perfection of Jesus, but not hide from you when we fail to achieve it. Our mistakes are not a reason to give up on trying. Thanks to You, we are not a collection of our mistakes, but we are beautiful as you see us despite our mistakes! You're word says your grace and mercy is new every day. You do that for us because You knew we would need it to be. Thank You so much for the love you have for us. In Jesus name, Amen
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