Hey! So today I did one of the most terrifying things ever. I gave a teaching in front of my squad (48 people, most haven’t seen me in a month). Honestly, I would not have done it ever, but God told me to do it. Here’s what I taught:
Grace
- Grace definition –> the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings. >>>> basically >>>> the free undeserved act of kindness beyond what is usual or deserved from God; which is shown through the salvation of sinners and is given to us as a gift or blessing.
- The past few months God has been teaching me how to give myself Grace plus live it out. I will admit, it took me awhile to listen. The word grace would pop up and I would be like, ‘oh there’s that word’. Then I would get distracted. It would pop up another time and I would be like ‘oh, there it is again’ and then distracted again. This happened many many times honestly.
- I am a massive perfectionist, so it’s really hard for me to give myself grace and live it out.
- I want everything perfect, my answers, my big pack packed perfectly, my letters to people, my blogs, my “teachings” you get the idea 🙂
- I was talking with Kelsey the other day and she said this phrase: “Perfection is the enemy of grace.” (It clicked!)
- Grace is forgiving someone for messing up, for them not being perfect.
- Romans 5:20-21 NIV “The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
- Christ died so that we could be forgiven. To forgive others you have to give them grace. Grace, the undeserved act of kindness. We do not deserve to be forgiven for the sins we commit, but because Jesus died for us, we are forgiven, we are given grace.
- [My squad is doing the Bible Project throughout the Race and I borrowed a couple of their questions ;)] Do you remember these bible project questions?
- How often do you consider the effect that the resurrection of Christ has on your life?
- How often do you celebrate it?
- I’m going to reword them a bit: how often do you think about Jesus dying so that you can be forgiven, so that you can have grace? How often do you celebrate it, the gift of grace? For me, the answer to both questions is: not as much as I should.
- Romans 6:14 ESV “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
- Galatians 2:21 ESV “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” If I can’t give myself grace when I mess up, when things aren’t perfect, when I sin, I’m turning down the gift, the sacrifice, Christ took for me. I’m telling him that he died for nothing. I’m telling someone who loved me so much and died for me, ‘I don’t care, sorry, not sorry.’
- Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Accept that gift, don’t turn it away. Give yourself grace when you mess up. Remember to not only give yourself grace, but others too. Christ died and gave the gift of grace to everyone. So, live your life with grace. Grace for yourself and for others. Don’t hold yourself and others to a perfection standard, give grace for messing up sometimes.
- Emma pointed this out to me earlier. The God of perfection gives us grace. Who are we to hold others and ourselves to a perfection standard? If He is giving us grace, we should give grace too. God forgives us our imperfections by giving us His grace. No more perfection standards.
- Here’s an example: 1 Corinthians 15:9-10 ESV Paul writes this: “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” Paul literally had one of the worst pasts; he was at Stephen’s stoning, he killed followers of Christ, and yet, God gave him grace! A man that sought out to destroy the church, to destroy those who served Jesus. The same Jesus who died for us to give us the gift of grace, gave Paul grace for the sins and wrongdoings in his life. Because Paul accepted God’s grace, he did amazing things for God. God used Paul because he was willing.
- Now imagine if Paul hadn’t accepted God’s grace, there would be lots of differences.
- The churches he made/established >>> not planted or don’t exist
- The people he encouraged/reprimanded >>> maybe lost their faith and fell away
- Half the new testament gone because he wrote it. All that love and encouragement gone
- All because Paul couldn’t give himself grace. He felt that his past was too heavy and he didn’t deserve to be forgiven. He thought that there was no way God could forgive someone with a past like his. He thought that he wasn’t worthy of God’s grace.
- Remember, that Christ died for you so that you can have grace and be forgiven for your sins, for your mess-ups. Accept God’s grace and live it out! He chooses to give you His grace, so take it!!! (Remember no more perfection standards.)
Until the next time……
