Thursday, April 21, 2016

The Perfect Gift

Grace.

It's a word many don't even know the meaning of anymore. Almost as if it's this fairytale word of an ancient story. But there's something very real about it that opens up once you've experienced and felt it within the very depths of your being.

It's this raw, emotional word that brings life to the most desperate soul.

There's a song specifically written about this incredible word. "Grace, grace. God's grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin." Greater than our sin? How can anything be greater than the mistakes we've made, wrongful things we have done, and people we have hurt?

This is where the raw beauty of the word comes in. Only God can give grace that surpasses every sin we have ever committed. Only God can cover us with His own blood, blood that He poured out in an agonizing death, to lovingly cover every area of our life that falls short.

It's this unending grace that spills over from a never ending stream; it never ceases, it never tells us "this is the last time". It's a word straight from Christ Himself. It's love in the purest form.

So many people today feel they've gone too far to receive grace. But this is mainly from the image Christians portray it. Why would there be a loving God who forgives, when those who follow Him are nothing close to that word? What visual do we give to people on a daily basis of our Creator? If we are not showing grace, why would anyone think it was real? Again, it seems more like a fairytale.

Our lives are the visual we put out in this broken world of our Heavenly Father. What does that look like in your life?

We have become fake, social media perfectionist, mask wearing Christians. How appalling it would be to show our raw emotions, our real life, how our hair really looks, the freckles we cover up, the children that drive us crazy sometimes, the house that is sometimes a disaster, days when we desperately need prayer, times when we feel alone. What would people see if we let our lives be truly raw, show them we aren't perfect, we don't pretend to be, and that the reason we talk about grace is because WE need it everyday?

It's time we stop pretending. Time to take off the mask.Meet people where they are; how they are. Jesus came to save the lost, not the perfect.

"But He said to me: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." -2 Corinthians 12:9

His power is made perfect in WEAKNESS. God knows we don't have it all together. That's why He has this amazing way of showing His power and greatness THROUGH our weakness, brokenness, and failures. All throughout the bible He chose the ones nobody would have picked to do great things. Saul was a murderer, David was an adulterer and murderer, Noah got drunk, Moses disobeyed, Sarah lied, Abraham slept with another woman....yet Jesus did wondrous works through their lives.

Don't ever let someone tell you you're not good enough to come to the throne of grace. 

Christ died for all. His gift is for all. His love never ends. His forgiveness is given beyond our human comprehension. His power is great. And He can, and will, use you with every bit of brokenness you bring.

You are loved. You are cherished. He died for YOU. Take hold of that and believe it with all your heart.