Striving Vs. Grace
To Be Holy
This spiritual era is marked by a call to holiness. The quest for glorious encounter with God comes hand in hand with a life of surrender. Oh, how I have longed, with bitter tears, to experience the greater depths of Christ. My pitfall has been the enemy’s “You’re just not good enough.” This mentality led to striving for holiness by my own strength, rather than walking in the blood.
Striving has been an ageless attack against the body of Christ. Since the Law was introduced, men and women of God have tried, tried, tried to prove their faithfulness to God by obeying all His commands. Yes, true followers of Christ should yearn to be in His will, according to Leviticus 11:45;
“For I am the LORD, who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” (NKJ)
Grace
Grace? Oh yes…that’s the word I was looking for. I love the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart, but just for the record, I’ve tried to be holy, and I didn’t pass the test of time. Only recently have I begun to understand the depths of the word. Grace.
Grace is when one cannot be perfect, yet is accepted, forgiven, and used by God. Grace is our human nature being tweaked and turned to reflect His glory. Grace is knowing that even in failure, God is still there; and anyway—it is His job to transform His little ones.
I love you, you love me; it’s as simple as can be.
He spoke to me through Pastor Annette when she taught me this rhyme. The Lord asked me to quit my striving and rest in the knowledge of the love we sharea. Rest? Yeah…that’s another good word. Grace and Rest. Rest in Grace. They go together.
June 6th, 2006 at 1:03 am
Wow, what timing. I was just on the phone with my friend talking about the Grace of God. How we all have flaws, yet all God wants to do is shed his grace on us and draw us into his open arms. We beat ourselves up, and his arms are still open. God wants to just be close to us. So why don’t we cast our fears and vain dreams aside to accept eternal love and the good gifts of heaven? Why do we strive for the fruits of the world that are perishing instead of the fruit in him which is eternal? I’m asking myself these questions as well. Thank God that in the Lord we have grace and eternal acceptance!
June 8th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
This is really awesome.
When God gives us his grace, his love and acceptance even though we’re not perfect, that is the greatest gift that could be given; and he gave it to us through Jesus. Wow.
Very awesome.