Grace is defined as “the free and unmerited favor of God.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary) Think about that. God favors you! The Eternal One favors each one of us. The Creator of the universe became one of us because of this favor, this grace. That’s today’s word: GRACE. Grace to me is incomprehensible and beautiful and freeing and empowering. It’s better than my imagination can dream it to be. It’s beyond the scope of any simple definition. It’s stunning and it’s infinite. Take a couple of minutes today and meditate on that.
I’ve been growing in my understanding of grace and cultivating what it means to live in grace during the last several years. Mostly, it’s been about accepting the unconditional love of God for me and letting go of religious obligation. It’s coming to the realization that following Jesus is just that: following Jesus, and not following rules. It’s letting go of my need to please others, and even my need to please God. It’s abandoning my need to look good and my need to live up to others’ expectations. It’s giving up the obligations of maintaining a good reputation, perfecting my outward appearances, and impressing the crowd. Instead, I’ve been learning that following Jesus is about living in God’s GRACE, in God’s love, in intimate relationship with the Eternal One. It’s about the heart. Is my heart connected to the One who created me? Am I falling into grace and into the freedom of living as God created me to live? Am I walking with God bountifully uninhibited, extravagantly unencumbered, and generously unrestrained? This is GRACE.
Slowly read this passage from Galatians as found in The Message. Let it speak to your heart today. I pray that you will be filled with GRACE.
“What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.” Galatians 2:19-21
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