But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. {1 Corinthians 15:10}
According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary grace is the unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification, a virtue coming from God, and a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance. Isn’t it lovely that we don’t have to worry too much about being perfect before God? We don’t have to walk on tippy-toes with Him. We can truly be ourselves. Sometimes I think we get this idea that when it comes to our walk with God we can’t be ourselves. We can’t be upset. We can’t yell and argue back with someone that upsets us and still be loved and accepted by God. Or we can’t sulk in the corner and feel unhappy about life and things around us. We must always be cheerful and grateful. We must put on a face before God that everything is all right, as if He doesn’t know what we’ve just experienced and gone through. We feel guilty for being ourselves when we start to come to prayer and talk to Him. We’re now afraid to be ourselves to Him. Some of us think when it comes to God we must all be poised and upright, we must always be happy and cheerful. We cannot complain whatsoever, or else what would He think of us now? As if He doesn’t already know what we’re truly feeling and thinking, and how bad we feel. We find it hard to believe that He can actually understand us and what we are going through. We expect Him instead to point fingers at us and start yelling at us. We pretend our lives away before Him. We’re not ourselves at all.
Apostle Paul reprimanded the Galatians in his writings to them about their attitude of trying to please God through works. He said to them,
O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? {Galatians 3:1-3}
You see they were trying to be perfect through obeying the laws of Moses. They were Gentiles trying to be Jews, and Apostle Paul wanted nothing to do with that. God’s love toward us is not based on our righteous works. Sure, He loves the righteous and if we love Him we would want to do what He desires for us to do. But if our motive everyday is to try to please God by working feverishly on being upright and perfect with the laws and rules of God, and have lost altogether the point of God’s grace which is given to us through the Holy Spirit, then what’s the point of Christ dying at the cross? If all we needed to do is to follow all the commandments of the Jewish laws to find salvation, then we don’t need Jesus Christ. We don’t need the heavenly Father God to come down in the form of a man and die for our sins, because we can save ourselves just fine. But we can’t. We need Jesus. We can’t save ourselves for the life of us. The Bible states without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. {Hebrews 9:22}
That’s why it is so important to live by grace and by the Holy Spirit and not by works – being guided by Him, being led by Him. The grace of God is manifested in our lives when the Holy Ghost is our constant companion. When we are always talking to Jesus and are in tune with Him, then we know we don’t have to be so uptight about our walk with God. He shows us what to do. He shows us how to be. We don’t have to be dotting every i or crossing every t. We don’t have to be nerve-wracked about our every step with the Lord. We can breathe, relax, and take it easy. We can enjoy life, because we see the Holy Spirit, and He is guiding us to all truth. We know what He is saying to us, we know what He is doing, and we know His desires for us. We believe Him when He tells us in His word, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” {Jeremiah 29:11}
God’s love is forever. It is eternal. His unmerited favor towards us through Jesus Christ is without end. Whenever we’re feeling less than perfect and good, all we need to do is talk to the Lord Jesus in our hearts and confess our sins to Him. Let Him know our sins, shortcomings and failures, repent from them, and He will forgive us. God’s grace is abundant toward us. Don’t mistake your negative outlook of how things went with your day, or how you feel about yourself, as the barometer of God’s love towards you. Don’t think that God has stopped loving you because you forgot to be perfect today. He still loves you. He still loves me. He still loves all of us whose sole desire is to follow Him. We will fail, we will come short, and we will mess up because we are humans and have come short of the glory of God. The Bible states that all have come short of the glory of God. No one is perfect, no one is upright and that even the righteous will sin. {Romans 3:23 and Ecclesiastes 7:20} But God’s grace is eternal and abundantly available to us now. Don’t run away from Him. Don’t hide your thoughts and your feelings of inadequacy from Him. Talk to Him about it and let His grace prove Himself to you through the Holy Ghost. He will comfort you and touch you if you come to Him. He will give you assurances of His love again. By all means let Him know you need Him and He will come to you. Unless we walk by faith in His love for us, we will never make it in these last days. The enemy’s sole desire is to cause us to fret and to fear and to doubt God’s love for us so that we will stop coming to Him. Fight against it. Don’t let the lies of the enemy take you down and lose your confidence and friendship with God. God’s love is faithful until the end. He will not ever fail us. Let God’s love prove Himself to you. Talk to Him today. Let Him know how you feel. Believe in His abundant grace and mercy and love for you.
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. {Hebrews 10:38}
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. {Galatians 5:4-5}
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. {Ephesians 2:8}
In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. {Ephesians 1:7}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank You with all of my heart for Your great love upon Your people today. You never change. You remain the same and true with Your love for us today. Thank You, Lord so much for Your love and mercy and grace upon us.
Father, help us to love You and believe You in Your love for us. You will never leave us nor forsake us. It doesn’t matter what we’ve done yesterday or today or an hour from now. Your love remains steadfast and strong towards us. All we need to do is ask for Your grace and forgiveness and You will forgive us. All we need to do is ask for Your help to do Your will and follow You, and You will help us. Without You Lord we can do nothing. Please Jesus, help us to follow You and live by Your grace through the Holy Spirit. You will lead us and guide us to Your truth. Help us Lord Jesus today, I pray, in Your most wonderful and lovely name. Thank You, Father. Amen.
