Living in the grace of God

The majority of my life, I have struggled to understand why Jesus would not only want to forgive my sin, but also use me for ministry.

Every Sunday, I look out into my congregation and see congregants that seem to be doing a better job of being “Christian” than I am.

Regardless of how much Jesus blesses me, I find myself continuing to make choices that I almost immediately regret.

I struggle, because I want to be a model Christian for my children, church, and community.

I want people to see the power of Jesus at work in my life. I want people to see it so much in me that they want the gift that I have received.

However, it wasn’t until about a month ago that I started to remember my beginnings in faith, especially, how grateful I was for the grace God had for the sinner I was.

Somewhere between the moment I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior to now, I stopped living solely on grace through faith.

I started to believe that I had to improve myself if Jesus was to continue to love me and use me for His purpose.

I started to live my life as though I needed to be able to show I truly loved God.

The problem is, I cannot and will never be able to, on this side of heaven, love God the way He deserves to be loved.

Although this seems negative, it’s actually the key that unlocks the door to live the life Jesus wants you to live.

Ephesians 2 tells us, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

Although we should all desire to grow into the person God has created us to be, we are examples of the grace that God has for this world.

It is through His love for us (not our works) that we are given the grace that restored our relationship with Him.

It is because of His love that we don’t have to worry each day about being perfect.

Until we are called home, we will all struggle, but the cross is the proof that no matter what, Jesus will never stop loving us.

My hope is that as you read these words, your faith will never become about your performance and will always be centered on the grace God has for you.

We are all sinners, saved by grace through faith, so if we boast, let us boast about the goodness of our God.

Amen.