07.14.2008

Ephesians 2:3-5
Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

1 John 3:1
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Hello,

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer days, although I also hope you’ve managed to stay cool! Also, I hope the Lord has been stretching and growing each of you… I know that God continues to stretch and grow me in much the same ways that I have mentioned in previous “Weekly” emails.

To be candid, I think one of the greatest things I’ve struggled with in my six-to-seven years as a Christian is embracing the depth of forgiveness and grace. I understand both of these concepts in my head and celebrate the fact that we have both of these things from God. Where the struggle persists is in my heart. When I don’t read Scripture as often, or don’t pray as often in a week, it’s hard for me to come to grips that God is still embracing me. Prayer and reading Scripture are good—essential, even—but God’s grace and forgiveness still remains even when we don’t always do those things. I also struggle when I fall into sin’s path (recently it looks like it’s taken a form of pride), and while I know I haven’t fall from the love of God, sometimes I feel like I have. In times like this the joy of Christ seems far from me. Yet I can turn to the assurance that Christ remains; perhaps Paul felt this way when he wrote to the Romans, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Christ still remains through all of our struggles. It is not a pass to continue sinning and take advantage of forgiveness… but how good it is to know that we can turn to Him at any stage in our life -- especially after our initial reaching out and declaring Christ as Lord. Perhaps the key thing is just this, that we always need to declare Christ in our hearts as Lord. There was a book that I read some time ago called “The Discipline of Grace,” that emphasized that we always need to preach the Gospel to ourselves. Grace is amazing, something we don’t deserve, and how good it is to fall into that grace. We must remember the reason Jesus died and raised again, always remember His sacrifice to cover our sins and bring forgiveness of trespass. Grace is easy to forget when we don’t remind ourselves of it, and forgiveness is all too easy to cast aside when our sin is our focus, and not our Savior.

Huh. I think I just figured out why I struggle with God’s forgiveness and grace…

I pray that the Spirit would continually be working in our lives to grasp the height, the depth, and the width of God’s love, forgiveness, and grace. Pray this same thing for me, that we may always be growing as brothers and sisters.

In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne