Learning about God's grace.

It has been a long while since I have written. Which I thought would be the case when I started this thing. However, I wanted to write something today, not that anyone is just waiting for my amazing wisdom or insight, but I have a few thoughts I want to share.

God's Grace

For those of you who know me, I am a follower of Jesus Christ. I love Him only because He first loved me. If He hadn't loved me, first of all He would never had reached out to me when I was at my lowest; when I didn't know Him and when I didn't care to get close to God. He wouldn't have extended God's forgiveness to me when I realized I was a sinner. And more importantly, Jesus would have never died for me on the cross taking away my sin and placing it on Himself if He didn't love me.

So as a forgiven person, loved by God and learning about Him daily I write this entry just to express how I so easily forget about His grace for me.

I somehow think that since I have been given a new life, forgiven of my sins and cleansed from every little sin in my past that I somehow can lose God's love and acceptance when I sin today or and in the future. This can't be farther from the truth.

This morning I was reminded by Paul the apostle in his letter to the Romans that God knows we struggle with our sin nature. In Romans chapters 7 and 8 Paul writes about how he struggles with doing what is right.

Paul writes in Romans 7:15-25

^"15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^a]">[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²²For in my inner being I delight in God's law; ²³but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. ²⁴What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."

I can become very discouraged with my sin. That is why I took the time to read Romans today. In Romans 8 Paul continues his thought with "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." That means me! There is no more condemnation (from self, satan, man and most importantly God) for those who are under the blood of Jesus. For those who have put their faith only in Jesus for their forgiveness and eternal destiny will not face condemnation from anyone because Jesus took that condemnation fully when He died on the cross.

Praise the Lord! So what do I do with all the feelings of failure? I read this scripture over and over and meditate on it. I ask God to fill my heart with his love so that I fully understand his forgiveness and peace.

Paul knew that he was loved by God even though he struggled with sin. He ended chapter 8 of Romans stating his certainty of God's love. This is what encouraged me so much this morning as I read.

" ³¹What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."^l]">[l] ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^m]">[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Paul in 7 talked of his sin battle and in 8 was still convinced of God's love. Now can we believers be truly convinced of the same? By God's grace, I do believe I can.

This took me 3 hours to write. You know why, all you Mom's out there. Thanks for listening...or reading I guess.