AN UNDESERVED GRACE
I genuinely do not know what I would do without grace. What I do know is that perfection, for me, is the antithesis of grace. Perfection is striving to be a person without faults or defects, and it is something I struggle with. Trying to be perfect is tiring. Putting on a perfect façade seems to be so common these days with the likes of social media. With perfect people interacting, there seems to be no depth. This is where I have learnt that vulnerability and admitting my imperfections to others fosters authentic connection.
It is like looking at something at face value – it may appear clean… but…
If you apply a microscope lens to amplify the image, you can see the truth in its makeup and the details it holds. Life is like a specimen without the power of a microscope lens. For example, the minimal or absence of flaws you see isn’t the reality of the dirt and sin that clings silently when a microscope is applied. So now you know I am flawed, human and not without sin; let me tell you about grace.
We can all probably identify our need for grace, but how often do we think we are writing in pen ink with its intrinsic permanency? I, for one, can too easily forget that my acts, thoughts and mistakes can be erased through God's perfect grace. It is almost like He sees me as I could be and not as I am. Like my role as a mother, I am extending grace to my children’s mistakes and reminding them of the power of a re-do with the assistance of an eraser all the time. God too is so endlessly graceful to me. His grace erases my sins, those which other eyes cannot see.
An undeserved Grace.
Grace, which I did not earn.
Grace, something I cannot fully understand or intellectualise.
So, what is my response?
Repentance. It is through humbling myself and offering transparency to a God who sees and understands everything anyway. Gratitude is my response. A thankfulness that never ends. A commitment to relationship and pursuing God and His goodness. So friends, today, meditate on His word as we prepare our hearts for Everywoman 2024.
“At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” – Titus 3:3-8 (NIV)