Responding to His Grace

God's grace is an amazing thing. And quite hard to comprehend when you live in a world like ours. Why would He do this for us? Why would Jesus die for us, take all of our shame and our ugliness, and give us His righteousness in return? I don't think we can really understand a love like that. It's so hard for us to love when we've been treated badly. How could He love us so much?

Yet even though we don't understand it, it doesn't change the fact that He DOES love us that much. And we reap rewards far beyond our comprehension because of this great love. We've done nothing to deserve it. And we could never start doing anything that would make us worthy of it. So does that mean there should be no response from us?

I certainly hope not.

I think the majority of the debates that go on between people about human response can be traced back to a single issue. The motivation of our hearts. Do we respond because we're trying to become worthy of His gift? Or do we respond simply because His love has touched us so deeply?

It is so like us as humans to try to earn God's favor. We think if we do good things He'll love us, but if we mess up he'll be mad at us. Why wouldn't we think that? That's what we would do. But God isn't like us. We beat ourselves up for our mistakes. He uses them to help us grow. He is more focused on the journey, on the work being done on the inside of us, than He is on our mistakes. And when He promised to use all things for our good (Romans 8:28) I think this is what He was talking about. Instead of using our performance to measure ourselves, we need to understand that everything in our lives, both good and bad, is now being used by God to help us on our journey. We will learn something from it. We will grow. We will be closer to Him. And that's all that matters.

Sometimes it takes time. I told my daughter not that long ago not to get so frustrated with herself. She is on a journey, and she can't change herself faster than God wants to change her. We expect to get from point A to point B so quickly. But God usually takes us on a slower, more meaningful journey toward freedom and change.

I believe as we go on this journey with God, there most definitely will be human response. Not because we need to earn anything. Not because we need to make up for something we've done. But when we see how deep His love is for us, and we begin to understand what it means to be completely surrounded and protected in that love, we won't be able to help but to show our love back to Him. We want the people we love to KNOW it. We want to do what brings joy to them; we love to make them happy.

There are plenty of places in the New Testament where we are encouraged to think the way we should and act the way we should. Naturally, people decided that's how you become a good Christian. So they try. And they try and they try and they try. And unfortunately, that's what trips so many people up and causes them to give up before they even get started.

You must first understand His love. His gift. His favor. You need to understand first and foremost that you are a child of the king, and you now have all the benefits of a prince or princess in the kingdom. His love has been poured extravagantly over you. You are loved far beyond your wildest imagination by the most powerful being in the universe. Think about it. Meditate on it. Let the truth consume your heart.

Then, respond away!