Walking in God's Grace
For years I struggled with understanding God and His grace for me. I just never got it. Whether I was to selfish, ignorant, or just did not understand. I continually sold myself short and was not capable of seeing myself as a godly deserving man.
Amazingly enough during my divorce I as struck with that "aha" moment where everything just fell into place and the scales fell from my eyes. It dawned on me that I was not deserving and yet God still loved me and had a plan for me, hence His grace. During this time I was able to show compassion towards my soon to be ex and forgive myself for my life's mistakes. Why was I still keeping track when God wasn't.
The freedom I experienced is beyond words. The joy I felt in the midst of turmoil was incredible and my life turned around for the better. For years I craved this kind of relationship with God, this feeling that I am going to be all right and I am completely loved and forgiven of my sins.
I came to realize that I had placed many expectations on myself and measured my Christian life by what I did, good and bad. The bad seemed to always over shadow the good. With the measuring stick I was using to gauge my godliness and deservingness I was never able to meet my expectations. While all along if I would of been using God's grace I could of saved my self much self condemnation and sadness.
In order to come to a place where I was able to fully receive the grace of God I answered the following questions:
- Will I rely on my own righteousness? Or will I trust in God's gracious provision?
- Will I remain in the simple message of salvation by grace through faith? Or will I add my own list of righteous works to the finished work of Christ?
- Will I walk in the flesh or the Spirit?
- Will I glory in the cross of Christ alone?
- Will I continue to seek the approval and rewards of this world so that I may glory in the flesh?
I was confronted with answering these 5 questions after reading a book called "Why Grace Changes Everything" by Pastor Chuck Smith. It is a great read and not too long. Oh yah and it is free. I would recommend this book to anyone that struggle with truly knowing God's grace. You can find it here.