Experiencing Grace

“When God’s grace is working on us and in us, it will also work itself out through us. The internal renewal of our minds and hearts creates an external propulsion that moves us out in love and service to others”-The Gospel Centered Life. So, my devo this morning is on grace; I love the subject of grace and mercy, whether it’s God’s grace for me or my giving it to someone else. I truly believe you cannot offer grace and mercy to another without having been given it. For myself, I have made some huge mistakes and bad choices in life and I also have chosen to live with repercussions of others huge mistakes and bad choices, but without having first experienced God’s grace for me I would never have been able to offer it to others; thus altering my present life which I consider to be pretty perfect for this side of Heaven. “God’s grace is the driving force of all change.” It’s that driving force and also desire to please God that I believe makes all the difference in the world; the difference to be able to repent of our own sin and bad choices, but also to see opportunities to forgive and love others. Until we experience God’s grace personally, we can never understand the gospel (the good news of Jesus Christ) fully. Even a walk down a church aisle or repeating a prayer does not bring a complete understanding of what His grace is truly about. How many of us gave our hearts to the Lord, asked Jesus into our lives, and truly repented of our sin but didn’t understand the impact of His work on the cross and how it freely gave us grace and mercy for our sins past, present AND FUTURE? That was me. While I was committed at the time to live for Jesus, to turn from my sins, it was long after, when I had lived a little more-okay a lot more- that I realized what it was all about; how His love really is unconditional and He welcomes us with open arms and a loving heart that says “you are mine regardless”. Yes, we still feel the sting of consequences and must deal with repercussions of our actions, but in light of God’s forgiving grace and mercy, we crave His forgiveness and unquestionable love for us. It’s what propels us to move closer to Him and a life that centers on Him. It’s what moves us to feel compassion, to identify with, and understand, those around us who are walking the same paths we did. And I believe it’s what separates those who are true followers of Jesus Christ and those who just say they are. A bold statement? Maybe,but look at the evidence…if you are privy to something so wonderful, so life altering, don’t you want to share it with others? If you are a woman reading this, the answer must be a resounding YES! Because we want to share every good-news; i.e. where we bought the shoes, the recipe to the dish everyone complimented, when we or anyone else is expecting, etc…and when we have done something to offend a friend and they forgive us, doesn’t that make us more apt to forgive those who offend us? It’s like the saying goes: I can stand in the garage but it doesn’t make me a car. Same for Christianity, I can go to church, tote my Bible everywhere, even quote verses from it, but it doesn’t make me a true believer in Jesus; only following His example does, and that example is to give grace and mercy to those around us. To show them what the Good News really is: that Jesus forgives us, gives us grace for our humanness and faults, grants us mercy so that we are not inundated with guilt and self recriminations… and the way we do that is to extend it to others. “To put it simply, the grace of God is always going somewhere-moving forward, extending His kingdom, propelling His people toward love and service to others. As we learn to live in light of the gospel, that extension should be the natural overflow. God’s grace brings renewal internally (in us) so that it might bring renewal externally (through us).”