His Amazing Grace

a post from Sandy Garman

Grace. We sing about it on Sunday but have a difficult time living it on Monday. Sometimes it is hard to believe that The Almighty God would have grace on puny little us. Many of us have experienced God’s saving grace; the grace that frees us from our chains of sin. But we still live like shackled people. How can we break the bondage of our own list of do’s and don’ts; our own set of rules that keep us drowning in shame? We need to anchor our self image to the Word of God.

See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

2 Samuel 22 says that God “…reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. He led me to a place of safety; because he delights in me.”

How amazing, how astounding that the creator of the universe delights in us. God cannot love us any more than he does now, and He will not love us any less no matter what we do. Nothing we do can increase or decrease God’s love for us. This is grace. It is astounding that God should love us so. Knowing this helps us have a more accurate view of who we are in Jesus Christ and helps us be more compassionate and patient with others. God in His mercy has shown his abundant grace towards us; how dare we not extend a small measure of that grace to others who are image-bearers of God?

Tim Keller in The Reason for God said this,

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

This is not easy to do. But when we yield ourselves to God and focus on His grace bestowed upon us, we will become changed people; overwhelmed by grace. We will hang on less to past and present hurts. We will forgive quicker, both others and ourselves. We will be more compassionate toward others. We will focus more on who we are in Jesus Christ instead of what we do for Jesus. We will serve him out of love and not out of obligation because we are following a list of do’s and don’ts. This is freedom. This is love. This is grace.