DAY ELEVEN

I am thankful for grace.

"Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence,

so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Hebrews 4:16 

 

I use the word grace quite a bit in my day to day activities, yet if someone asked me to define grace, I would probably stumble around it similar to the way I do when I try to convince myself that I can name all the NFL teams. It ain't happening with 100% certainty.  So I looked it up and here is what I found:

Definition of GRACE :
a : unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification
b : a virtue coming from God
c : a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace
 
The word that totally caught my eye was the word "unmerited" because that is how I can relate to grace. I am unworthy, yet His cup overflows. I struggle with the concept of grace quite a bit. I am often grappling with the reality that I have been forgiven, yet I am unworthy. In fact, I sometimes wonder, "can my heart get so bad that my salvation is lost?". And the answer is no, because frankly, my heart wasn't worthy to begin with...not to mention the fact that my efforts to constantly be found worthy completely undermine the purpose of grace. So today rather than worry about my worthiness of grace, I choose to be thankful.
 
I am so thankful for God's grace in my life. I have been hateful, hurtful, judgemental, selfish, angry, ungrateful, doubting, controlling, and the list could go on and on. To put it in one word: I am broken.
 
But I am forgiven.
 
And it is grace that makes me whole again. I cannot earn it, I cannot control it, and I cannot eliminate it from my life. (Thank goodness for that because I have a tendency to do a pretty lousy job of deserving the grace that is so freely given.) I would like to say that I never take grace for granted, but honestly? I do sometimes. And for that I am sorry.
 
I am so thankful that we have the promise of grace. While it doesn't give me a green light to do whatever I want, it certainly gives me hope and peace to know that our God loves us despite our faults and sinful hearts. It gives me courage during difficult times. Life has been tough but God's grace has been enough. What an awesome promise.
 
Lord, thank you for grace. Whether it is through your forgiveness of our sins or providing grace and mercy during tough times, You are always good. Thank you for loving my unlovable heart.