Michael and I are going through a devotional book this semester, and this week’s topic is grace. Each day discusses a different aspect. Needless to say, I’ve been thinking about just how amazing God’s grace truly is. Who am I to deserve abundant blessings and eternal life from a perfect God? With as much as I sin every day, I deserve nothing.
“From God’s perspective, we are all a common criminal. We have stolen the goods from Him by choosing to break His commandments. The Bible says we are all sinners and fall short of God’s standard of righteousness—that being 100 percent perfection… If God’s requirement for acceptance is perfection, how on earth can anybody pass the test? God’s answer is Jesus Christ… God treated Jesus Christ as if He had lived our lives do that He might treat us as if we had lived His life.”
Wow. I cannot imagine Jesus taking on God’s wrath as a result of my sins, much less that of the entire world. That is the epitome of grace! I know grace is talked about consistently talked about—at least at APU and the Christian world—but I don’t think it should ever stop. For whatever reason, we forget the wonder of it too easily!
Strive for excellence, not perfection
Maybe it’s my first-born syndrome, or just my type-A personality, or a combination of the two, but when I can’t do something perfectly, it drives me wacky. I can usually convince myself that it’s ok—I don’t have to do everything perfectly all the time, but the problem still exists. Last semester, God really used people to teach me my value to God. He has me where I’m at for a reason, flaws and all. His grace is such a beautiful thing, because I know I am far from it.
God’s grace is not an excuse to sin. It would be easy to say, “Well, God is merciful and gives His grace willingly, so I’m going to go ahead and keep doing things I know I shouldn’t.” I know it’s kind of harsh, but is that person really saved? I think not. This devotional book stated what our goal should be well: Strive for excellence, not perfection. I know I’ll never ever, ever never be perfect, or anywhere close! However, out of my love, respect, adoration and worship of our most holy and loving God, I yearn to please Him. With a combination of His grace and love and my attempt at honoring Him, I can achieve excellence in God’s eyes. Praise Jesus for that!
Just a side note:
This has been very encouraging to me and has been my prayer recently. It’s from a song called Shine:
I’m right here before you, asking on my knees,
That my life would be something, and not just what I dreamed,
That I might find favor, and mercy and grace,
In the eyes of my savior, in the light of your face,
Lord as I offer everything, I pray that my life would make you pleased,
That I might move mountains and wake the sea,
Oh that your light would shine through me.Amen.
P.S. I AM OFFICIALLY IN DC!!!
I remember brian holland said something at church that i will never forget! It was "Guys me and you, we all SUCK." No matter how hard we work it will never be good enough for God. But like you said, how great is it that He wants us to be with him so he sent his Son to die for Us. A friend of mine put it this way. Imagine a father is walking with his sun on a sidewalk. In the middle of the street is a row of ants and barreling down the road is this huge truck that will eventually run over and kill all the ants. The father sees that this is about to happen so he throws his son in the middle of the street to take the impact of the truck and save the ants. WOW That is the love that God has for us and the grace he gives us CONSTANTLY!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou along with every other believer in Jesus needs to not forget the TRUE Love that is shown to us everyday we wake up!!!!