Grace

Last night our church took part in a simulcast along with a number of other churches across the country.  It was led by Max Lucado and the topic was grace.  I really enjoyed the teaching and thought it was an invaluable experience.  Here are some of the highlights that I took away:

• God's grace doesn't depend on me, what I can offer, do, or accomplish.  It depends 100% on God.
• The promise of grace is a new heart.  When God looks at my heart he sees the heart of Christ because I have been redeemed by Christ and He lives in me.
• God's goal isn't just to get us into heaven, it's to get heaven into us.
• I need to believe what God believes about me and stop believing the lies that satan tells me.
• Jesus put himself directly between me and certain death at the cost of his own life.  He kept me from flying off the cliff.
• I need to cover myself in God's grace every day.

The grace of God is an amazing thing.  It is something that I struggle with everyday because it makes no sense to me.  My thought process tends to go like this, "If God truly knows me, what I think, what I've done, then there is no way he could or would love and forgive me."  I know a lot of us think this way, that we are unlovable but the truth of the matter is that God specializes in loving the unlovable.

When we are saved God removes our guilt and shame and replaces it with the righteousness of Christ, once and for all.  Our guilt and shame have been taken away!  I think one of satan's best tricks is to convince us that we have to do more to get rid of it.

What more can we do that Christ did not accomplish on the Cross?  Did not Jesus fulfill the Law when he was crucified?

Friends, grace abounds in our lives more than we care to know.  It's time we opened our eyes, and our hearts, to the grace God so mercifully and eagerly pours out to us.  We have been redeemed by the king, lets start believing what he believes about us.