If you were to look closely at my wrist you would see two old scars… and two fairly new ones. You would also see a few carefully penned letters. As you backed up you could begin to see a word appear. That word is Grace. This is my word. Grace is pretty much a combination of getting something that you don’t deserve and not getting something that you do deserve. That is my life. When you look at my life it is pretty obvious to see what I deserve. I deserve bondage, suffering, and ultimately death. When it comes down to it… that’s what we all deserve. I mean when was the last time you took a look at the Ten Commandments? Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” I mean if you want my whole sin list , I can give it to you but as far as the Bible is concerned. We are all in the same boat. So it doesn’t matter what I have done, or what you have done; this life is a pass or fail course and we have all failed.
This is where grace comes in. We have already established what I deserve. I deserve death. Romans 6:23 says , “For the wages of sin is death…” So where is the grace there? Well here is the second part of the verse, “… BUT the GIFT of GOD is eternal LIFE in CHRIST JESUS.” It’s like being three trillion dollars in debt and having someone hand you a hundred trillion dollars. Not only do you not get the debt that you do deserve but you get so much more. But honestly…I HATE talking about Christ’s gift in terms of money. The fact is…. There is an amazing God who loves you no matter what. I want you to think of any love anyone has ever had for you. Whether it was temporary or long term, intense or weak. Now I want you add all that love together, and multiply it by 100. That is less than .0000000000001% of God’s love for you. And the best part: NOTHING you could ever do or could have ever done could ever give you less love, or more love for that matter. You are loved extremely and all you have to do is let God love you.
Now here is the main part of the blog. Yeah I know, but those last two paragraphs were just kind of an introduction. But if you don’t have the foundation you can’t put up the walls. I want you to think back about my wrist. There were two old scars… but there are also two newer ones. Those scars were even made over a word that once read “Loved”. Now I know I have probably confused you by now. You are probably wondering all about that God’s love stuff and how it was supposed to make everything better. And it does make everything better…but not in the same way you would think. You are still you, with all your same destructive tendencies. And realizing that Jesus loves you does not make you a better person overnight.
I have heard from several people, and I have even thought so myself, that they are afraid of “self-destructing”. That is basically the idea that I am going to become a “Christian” and then screw up a few months down the line and fail. And in reality…. This ALWAYS happens. Self destruction is a part of being human. As long as we are human we are imperfect and are going to screw up. We are going to fall back. But here is the beautiful part. God love doesn’t end there. God’s love NEVER ends. Ephesians 3:17-19 says “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with al the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, And to know that his love surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
Screwing up does NOT cancel God’s love for us. If you are a musical person like me, this song will speak to you to. Tenth Avenue North puts it this way. “So let’s not pretend, stop your parade. Trying to convince me that you’re alright and everything’s ok. Yeah, Do you even know me? Cause I already know who you are and all the things that kept us apart. So reach in and touch my scars and KNOW the price I paid for your heart. And it’s not enough, it’s not enough just to say that you’re ok. I need your heart and I need your pain. It’s not love any other way. “
It’s not true love if God doesn’t love us through our mistakes. God needs our hurt and our pain. You will never fully understand God’s love unless you hand all of yourself over to God. Honestly there is nothing you could do to stop God’s love for you. And that’s the beautiful part of it.
When God looks at my arm he sees something more than I could ever imagine. He sees something beautiful. He sees his son who covers all of my sins, past present and future. He sees something that he loves. Sixteen Cities sums it up in a song, “All the pieces of your heart, and all the lovely scars, are someone’s work of art.” We are God’s masterpiece and He loves His crazy works in progress.
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