Grace is wild people! That is the first thing that God has shown me over the past 48 hours or so. It is a never-ending wave that continuously washes over us as God's children. Doesn't that just lift you up? Everyday, every minute, every second, every increment of time we are being loved on and being poured over with forgiveness and grace. It isn't just a word that we name our daughters or hear in church, but it is alive and in us! We are filled with the Grace of God. We are saved because of this grace that is now embedded in us through Christ's death. Now that right there is out of this world, wicked, wild, and any other adjective that you can think of that means mind-blowing.
Alright, sign me up for that, but there is always this misconception when it comes to living a grace-filled life. That misconception is that we need to earn that grace or somehow repay God for what he did on that cross for us. Sorry but that is impossible. The only thing that we can do in this lifetime is live grace-filled and recognize everyday that God doesn't want us to try to change just to meet a benchmark on his grading scale and then give us a gold star. That is not how grace works! He wants us to give him the permission and the trust to let him change you. God is not a kind of God that wants his people to change to prove their worth to Him, but instead He stoops to our level as sinners and picks us up out of the dirt. That is Grace.
Some scripture from the book of John chapter 8 talks about Jesus and how he stooped down to our level. It says:
"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
In that chunk of scripture the Jewish law heads came to Jesus with a woman who had been caught in the act of having sex without being married, and they explained to him that the Law says that they need to stone her to death. Before answering the question though Jesus stooped down and crouched on the ground. Think about this as not just for her stooping down to her level, but stooping down to all of our levels. We are sinners, we are not perfect, we make mistakes, and we are in pain and prideful, but Christ died for us. You have to remember that Jesus is God, so when God came down to this earth and stooped down to our level he did so to show that we do not need to prove anything to Him, but instead let His grace change us.
Would you pray this with me right where you are at, and let God's grace just flow in you and out of you?
Papa, like your Son showed in that encounter with the woman you stooped down to the lowest of the lows in order to meet us where we are at instead of expecting us to meet certain benchmarks to earn grace, and Father we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for that. For understanding us and our nature, and letting your Grace be a complete part of our hearts. I ask today that you allow for this revelation of your grace to be a daily reminder of who we are in relationship to you, and a reminder that you relentlessly pursue us and will never stop until we see you fully through your Son's eyes. I love you Lord, and let my life of brokenness and imperfection be full of your grace and all for your glory. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
