The failure to follow through, the sharp words that slice the heart, the crooked decisions that drown us in shame. This is a picture of sin. It weighs us down and gives us that queasy feeling in the pit of our stomach…guilt. But then, in the right environment, there is a sigh of relief. The breath you were holding in, causing the pressure to build inside your chest and the anxiety to overwhelm, rushes out of your mouth in the quick flow of air…Grace.

Grace is a strange thing. You think you grasp the meaning of it, the depth of forgiveness, the weight of pardon and acceptance. But the grace God shows us is profoundly more compelling than we could ever imagine.

For grace to be given, sin must be present. There must be a separation, a break in intimacy, a gaping hole in need of mending.

I know you have felt that separation. All of us have experienced it. We feel that break in intimacy and the gaping hole every day, even if we ignore it or have attempted to fill it on our own terms. We sin against God constantly and continuously fall from his glory. It’s overwhelming when we realize just how far we fall from God. We hang our heads in hopelessness and the pressure in our chest rises…But grace is a solution given in the midst of brokenness.

 And grace is exactly what God offers us. He loves us! He loves us enough to give us that sigh of relief by offering us GRACE upon grace, through the gift of Jesus Christ, his crucifixion, and resurrection. What an INCREDIBLE sacrifice and present to those who accept it. As believers, we are COVERED by God’s grace as the waves cover the sea. We sin again and again and yet his grace is endless. As far as the east is from the west so far has he removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12).

INFINITE GRACE. It’s completely mind boggling if you sit in it long enough. I don’t deserve a second chance, but God gives me abundantly more opportunities to pursue Him, KNOWING that I will ALWAYS fall short. I will never reach Him. I am never good enough, but he showers me in the righteousness of Christ so that I may be welcomed back into intimacy with Him. 

Christians, we KNOW this. The gift of grace is the GOSPEL, the Gospel we take for granted every day. The Gospel that frees us from condemnation (Romans 8:1). And yet we choose to sit as if we have been condemned. We choose to sit in guilt and punish ourselves for the past that God has REDEEMED.

Friends, condemnation is a LIE straight from hell to keep you in an endless cycle of guilt. Satan wants you to feel unforgivable. He wants to remind you of your failings and how far you are from God. He wants you to be so blinded by your shortcomings that you cannot, you will not, see the grace of God. You may offer it to others and forgive them with ease, but there is NO way you can ever give it to yourself. We push it away as if we don’t deserve it, or even worse, we see it as an exception or excuse for our sin.

Oh you of little faith, is God not bigger than your sin?? Who are you to turn away his gift? Grace reminds us that we need Jesus!!! It is not an invitation to keep on sinning, but a gift receipt of righteousness. God welcomes us into his arms with all our dirty rags; and then he loves us enough to wash us clean and make us NEW, so it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me (Galatians 2:20). 

Grace is strange. It is hard to accept, because accepting it means admitting you were wrong and owning your mistakes. Accepting grace means humbly coming before the Lord in need of Him. Not a casual need, but an all-encompassing, “I cannot live without your forgiveness and your righteousness” kind of need. But when you take that step and intentionally choose to walk in the freedom Christ offers us everyday, the relief comes, because you have found safety and security in the arms of the Father. 

Today, I am praying 2 Peter 1:2 over you as you read this: “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” 

-Megs

(The featured image is a picture of an individual who embodies this characteristic in my life. Who do you see God’s grace in and through?)