Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Grace of a Father.

Daughters,

Yesterday, I had a realization that greatly encouraged me, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't share it.

I've realized that we often have a hard time understanding grace. We become easily frustrated with each other and ourselves and very miniscule things cause us to be bitter towards one another and even hate one another. We would assume that things would be the same with God, that His grace would be limited like man's is. Without scripture to tell us otherwise, this is a understandable assumption.
How could God love a murderer after what he's done? How could He love you and I after all we've done? Beyond that, we fail Him day in and day out- we don't keep promises, we forget what we learned yesterday, and we go behind His back consistently. Surely, even if He could still love us, He loves us less now because of what we've done, right?
Even if we proclaim grace with our mouths, we can still believe a very different "truth" underneath, in our hearts where no one can see how wrong we could be. Then, in believing this doctrine of false grace, we find ourselves failing to tell others of His love and it becomes harder and harder to show grace to others.

If God is not gracious there is nothing to proclaim. If He's not the Great Forgiver there is no need to show forgiveness to other.

 But there must be a flaw in this doctrine. Because if God is not fully gracious and completely forgiving there is absolutely no hope. And do you not know that if He is not fully gracious He is a liar? Is He is calling you into love only to hold a grudge? God's love is an absolute. It either is, or it isn't. And for those called by grace, it always is. You cannot break the love that you didn't begin and you can't outdo His grace, there's always more to be found. 

You see, if God's grace was limited to man's goodness, then we would still be under the law, and we are now under a law of grace (Gal 2:21). God's grace is given freely, and never held back. It is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) so the things of yesterday are no longer held against us. 

The easiest way for me to understand grace is through a metaphor. God is our Father and we are his children. If you know anything about children, you know they forget discipline easily, they disobey often, and mostly feel no regret for that. But a Father doesn't love His children any less because they are disobedient. He doesn't hate them when they forget to wash their hands before dinner. He doesn't regret having them when they act out or feel ashamed to call them His own when they forget His teachings. He loves them just the same, and He knows they will grow and learn with time. He's patient. 

And He is abounding in mercy, always faithful in grace. 

Chelsy. 


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