His Grace is Sufficient!

I'm prone to being especially snappy and intolerant when I'm tired. Which is quite often lately, with a baby who likes night time attention. Either that, or the rest of the world just happens to be particularly annoying on days when I haven't had enough sleep. But I think it's more likely that I'm the common denominator.

This morning, knowing I was extra tired, I resolved to try my hardest to be positive and light hearted anyway. Even knowing my weakness, even wanting genuinely to not succumb to it, it barely took 30 minutes after getting out of bed before I'd already reacted exactly the way I always would. And by halfway through the day... Well lets just say my resolve well ad truly failed me.

Which is why I'm so glad we are not under law but under Grace.

Because aren't our lives like that. Even when we know what we should and shouldn't do, when we know what our weaknesses are, and even when we genuinely want to change out thoughts, behaviours and actions it seems to happen that at the very next challenge, we've failed again. We've become angry or impulsive or impatient or lazy or selfish or harsh or critical or indulgent or frustrated or despairing....all over again.

So aren't we so fortunate that it is the grace of God through Jesus that makes a new creation and not our own efforts?

It is a grace that is not fully realised yet, but it was a plan that was set in motion from the beginning. A plan to redeem us and reconcile us right from the start. The minute Adam and Eve walked out of the garden, God was already bringing us back.

What ever issues and questions people have with the Old Testament, I'd suggest most people are missing the point. And that point is, that everything points to Jesus.

Though humanity chose to turn away, God kept on steering us back, every step of the way carrying a line of people (the Israelites) to bring us Jesus, fully human and fully God, to be the ultimate sacrifice.

We question what God doesn't do, what He seems to allow, the things that seem troubling - but what about all He does do. That He never let His plan be derailed, no matter how many times the Israelites turned away and failed and messed up.

The Old Testament is not devoid of Grace in the midst of Law - it is drenched in it. Every story, every event, every prophecy points to the plan God had to save not just the Israelites but the whole world. To bring us all back into his arms, no matter how much we rebelled.

Everything points to Jesus.

If Gods plan can prevail through every messed up trial and battle in the Bible, His grace can prevail in your life too.

The sacrifice has been made, and life has conquered death. Love has conquered fear. Jesus has fulfilled the law, and Gods inheritance is ours. His Grace is sufficient.

While His kingdom isn't fully realised here on earth yet, the hold sin seems to still have on you is only an illusion. It's a lie. Don't believe it. You are not subject to your old self anymore.

The battle is not to conquer sin and the enemy - that has already been done. The battle is now to bring our minds into alignment with the truth - we are free. We are healed. We are a new creation.

So if you are still struggling or still feeling stuck in something, it's not about working out the right thing to do. It's not about improving yourself, or getting better at being 'good' - it's about surrendering all to God and letting His love transform your mind and heart and every corner of your life.

His Grace is sufficient. His power is made perfect in weakness.

You can't fix your life yourself - and why would you try? Just lay it down and receive the new life Jesus died and rose again to give you as a beautiful, powerful and glorious gift.

And every time you do, you will find grace and love to wash away more and more of the old lies and the old habits, and you are transformed, piece by piece, as you become more and more aligned with the kingdom of God.

God does not want to keep you broken

I've heard people say, and seen the effects of people believing, that it's God plan to leave them broken, sick or struggling so He can use it for good.

God will use your brokeness, it's true. He will use what you have been through to help others. He will work all things together for good for those who love Him. 

But it is a huge fallacy to think that means you have stay where you are, in your pain, so that God can use it to help others.

How can you give a testimony to how God can heal our hurt, our sickness, our brokeness, if you are still in it? How can you lead people through their pain to the other side, if you don't even know where that is because you've haven't got there yourself?

Don't get me wrong - God can and will use you where you are. He can use anything and anyone, no matter how imperfect or broken. He can bring unfathomable good in even the most difficult circumstances. But just because God is using you while you are still sick or broken, does NOT mean he wants you to stay there.

"Many people followed Him, and He healed them all" Matt 12:15

There is no addendum to that verse, no fine print that says *"except for the few he let stay sick so that they could empathise with other sick people".

Sure, you may find comfort in talking to others who are experiencing the same thing as you. It may help the burden not feel so heavy. But who can help you more - someone who is also struggling the same as you, or someone who once struggled, but has found freedom?

If you are blind, another blind person can only teach you how to cope as a blind person. Jesus can teach you how to see!!

It is not God's will for you to stay sick, hurt or broken. Jesus didn't die and rise again so that you could stay as you are. He didn't conquer sin and death so that you could just battle on, and try and prop up others also struggling.

He died and rose so you could be free! So you could be healed! So you could have life!

Don't believe the lies and doubts that maybe God wants you to stay where you are. If we are to pray for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and there is no sickness and brokeness in heaven - then that's what we should be believing for on earth!!

And don't hold on to this belief as a security blanket. Sometimes we believe that maybe this sickness or struggle is God's will because if we let go of that idea, then we risk being disappointed. What if I don't get healed? What if God doesn't get me out of here? What if I believe that I'm meant to be set free, but find myself still a prisoner?

It's a scary place to be - to have stepped out from behind our protective lies, and into the wide open. And we don't know the exact timing of when and what God will do. Sometimes what is done in the spirit doesn't appear in the natural right away. Maybe it seems risky.

But if you can be sure that if you stay where you are, you definitely will not see change. 

Step out in faith. Give Jesus a chance to prove that he wasn't lying when he said that now is the time!

"He sent Me to tell those who are held captive that they can now be set free, and to tell the blind that they can now see. He sent Me to liberate those held down by oppression. In short, the Spirit is upon Me to proclaim that now is the time; this is the jubilee season of the Eternal One’s grace." Luke 4:18-19

It is our testimony of our personal and collective experiences of God's grace, love and freedom that will draw people. Anyone can say to a sick person "I know how you feel". 

But don't you want to be able to say, "I know how you feel - but I also know the one who can make you well!!"

If you want to be put back together, if you want to be healed, get to know the healer.

You don't 'arrive' as a Christian, there's always more

No matter how many years you've been a Christian, no matter how spiritually mature you get, you never 'arrive'. You're never done. You never achieve the 'highest rank' and then stay there.

This is not because there's more 'work' to do. It's not because you are so imperfect and must keep working on yourself.

You are imperfect of course, but that's not actually what God focuses on.

Because being a Christian is not a job description.

It's a relationship.

In a friendship or marriage, you never get to a good place in the relationship and then say "Ok, that's it. We've done it. I can stop making any effort now."

If you stopped talking and laughing and spending time together, that good marriage or friendship would quickly dissolve.

God wants a relationship with you, first and foremost. Maybe after that you'll do things, He'll change you, work on your heart, make you a 'better' person and all that.

But it all flows naturally out of a relationship with God. You can't 'arrive' in a relationship. It is ongoing. Especially with God - there is always more to know, more to discover, more to understand, more love, grace and peace to be found...

If God focuses on the relationship, why do we continue to focus on the work?

For the big and the small

My daughter just had her 4 month old vaccinations. Never mind that she is already 5 months, and we were a month late. This post is not really about me being a slack parent...

On the morning of the day we had to take her in to get the needles, I said to my husband, "I wish I could have them for her."

You see, watching my happy little daughter's face register shock and hurt and break into tears as two nurses jab her in the legs is heart breaking. Because of her pain, and because she doesn't understand what is happening. So I wish I could take it for her, and she still receive the health protecting benefits.

And that made me think about what Jesus took for us. He took a whole lot more than a little physical pain for us, so that we didn't have to feel it, experience the pain and consequences or be separated from God. And we received the benefit.

But even though in our heads we know that is true, most often when we talk about Jesus taking all of our sins, but we focus on the obvious. (And we have a hard enough time accepting that)

Sometimes when feel like we've got what Jesus did we accept that counts for the big stuff - the 'big, ugly sins'... the ones that practically stand up and shout "I'm a SIN!" You know, murder. And maybe he was talking about lying, and cheating, and swearing at people...those obvious things.

But something stops us really accepting that Jesus actually took everything. Everything. The big, the little, the obvious, the subtle. He cares about the big and the little of our lives.

He died for every mean thought. Every careless word. Every selfish action. Every rebellious moment. Every impatient foot tap. Every tear-filled argument.

He cares about every moment that you don't feel peace. Every moment you lack joy. Every moment someone is unkind. Every moment you feel a twinge of anxiety.

It's not just the big.

We sometimes think that God cares about the big stuff that He knows we can't do on our own. But we feel like the little stuff, well shouldn't we be able to manage that ourselves? Why would God spend time on our little things - we just have to get on with it.

And so we struggle on with things that we think are too little for anyone to care about, and feel bad when we still struggle...when things end up being harder than we think they should be... we things hurt and we just try to get over it...we feel like we shouldn't struggle with it, so we pretend we don't.

My daughter's vaccination is a small thing. It is over in 10 seconds, and with a bit of comforting she is soon fine. If I - a slack, imperfect human parent - can feel so much compassion over a relatively tiny thing, if my heart breaks at her few moments of confusion and pain, then how much more will the perfect God who IS love, feel love and compassion over our 'tiny' things. Our 'little' struggles. Our confusion and hurt. Our moments of disappointment. Our minute of sadness.

I can't take my daughter's vaccination for her, because then I would be getting the immunity and she would still be unprotected.

But the thing is,  God can take it for us, and we still receive the benefit. Jesus bore every burden and all our suffering, and we received the peace.

So don't just wait to cry out to Him once the weight of your life has become unbearable. Every moment of your life, reach out for the love He has lavished on us. Take hold of His peace and joy.

Think of the love of a mother for her baby. Then multiply that by infinity and I don't think you've even come close to how much God loves you.

God cares about every. single. moment of your life. He bore every. single. burden for you - and you get the supernatural, life preserving benefit.

It's already done, so why are you still trying to do it?

Imagine if a parent told a child "You can go to the party, but first your room must be perfectly clean. BUT, guess what? I've already cleaned it for you. You're free to go!"

Would any child respond, "Thanks for doing that for me, but I didn't deserve that so I might just go a try to clean it myself too."

No! They would go with joy, secure in knowing that their parent loved them, and freely receiving the gift they had just been given.

Why do when then do this very thing to God. "Come freely into my presence. I've already made you righteous!"

"Thanks God, but I didn't deserve that, so I might just go and try to work at it myself first."

We don't wash our clothes when they are already clean. We don't scrub the dishes when they are already spotless.

And yet we try to clean our own lives - something we could never do perfectly anyway - when Gods already done it.

Or worse, we sit there, giving up, thinking our lives will always be hopelessly dirty - and don't notice that Gods already saved and redeemed us.

Would they child, the room cleaned for them, then stay home and not even bother going to the party?

You can say all you like that real life is more complicated than the simple analogy I'm making, that's its not that easy.

But I believe, at the core of it, it is. It's that simple. God has paid the price. It's already done.

Accept it, like a child. Accept the gift, the joy, the peace. Let God deal with the complicated parts of your life. Just take the Grace.

pure and useful

When God looks at us, he sees someone pure, someone covered and redeemed in Christ's blood. We can approach him without fear because of Jesus.

If this wasn't so, we would all still having to be going through the rituals of a high priest to be able to even get close to God. There are chapters and chapters dedicated to just describing all the rules of the set up of the tabernacle and the requirements of the priests, down to the type of thread in the clothes they wore. A person had to be clean and purified to approach God - or we see what happened to those who approached God without being pure. Such as the guy who tried to stop the ark from falling and was struck dead because he touched it.

Those sort of examples seem horrifying to us. He was just trying to help! was my first reaction. But it is meant to emphasize to us the absolute holiness of God.

But that doesn't need to make us fearful, now. Because of Jesus, we have been purified. We can freely approach God. What a marvelous, amazing gift and blessing. We can go boldly into his presence, like a child to their father.

While in the old testament the priests made regular sacrifices in the tabernacle where God dwelled, on behalf of all the people - now we have a High Priest who made the ultimate sacrifice. And now God dwells in US. (That is us, as in you and me - not the U.S.)

Though we still act sinfully, we do not need to be ashamed before God. He sees us as purified.

Ok...so why do I still need to live a certain way then. Doesn't it not even matter. If it's by grace we are saved - why do anything?

The answer to that question, one that if we are honest with ourselves we have probably all considered at some time, depends on what we think life is about.

Is it just a waiting room where we sit on an uncomfortable bench until the heaven train comes to pick us up?

Or is it something meant to be lived, a time to serve God, a time to be of use in the kingdom of Heaven, while we wait for that eventual enternity?

Because then I think all the 'stuff' we think God is telling us to do, is actually his provision of a way of life that makes things easier on us. He knows that if we live the way he has told us is right, then we will live freer and happier and more purposefully.

2 Timothy 2:20-21 - In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.

We are pure and without shame before God - we are sinners, but that doesn't any longer exclude us from God's awesome presence.

But if we want to be free and unburdened in His presence, to realise the joy of the purity and freedom that God has already attained for us - then we'd be wise to stop fighting against the way of life God recommends.

Those people who say "If God forgives anything, I'll just live however I want and then just repent on my death bed" are missing the point. If the last second repentance is real, then Yes, those people will still be with God like those who became a Christian at age 2.

But it's not just about where we are when we die - if we live only for ourselves, what fullness and fulfillment are missing out on while we are living on earth?

New 'wear it' Wednesday

This is a whole different kind if Wear It Wednesday, taken from the kind of wear it when something you've done that is wrong or embarrassing is put on display and you have to "wear it".

Appropriately, the urban dictionary informs me, the term also has a meaning to do with drinking - being drunk or hungover.

Appropriate because I used to drink. I used to bringe drink, which is a big part of the reason why I don't drink alcohol at all anymore.

The first reason is because I don't actually like the taste. But that obviously isn't a big enough reason in itself, because I still used to do it.

From year 11 until early in my fourth year of uni, I used to binge drink. In high school it was once every weekend that I could get away with it. By the end, while I was studying in England and traveling in Europe it was as many nights a week as I could get away with.

I was a mess. Frequently I would drink until I was sick, or at least until I made a complete fool of myself. I felt desperate. I thought I wanted to feel something, to feel belonging, to make everything easy and fun - but in reality I wanted to feel nothing. I wanted to feel nothing because that's all I truly believed there was - nothing really worth having. Or nothing real that I was worthy of having.

And so I drank until oblivion would let me forget for a while that I was desperate.

Even though my time living in England has some of the best memories of my life, it was also my lowest point.

It shows you the amazing capability we have as humans to cope and function in a sort of half life, and fool ourselves that it is full.

The saddest thing is that nobody noticed my despair. Nobody did anything about my drinking,, other than to make sure I got home safely. Nobody did anything, because it was normal. I was just another drunk girl who needed to be put in a taxi home. My friends may have found it annoying those times they had to look after me, but that was it. It was normal.

Imagine if I came to church so drunk I couldn't walk straight. I'm pretty sure there'd be a reaction. Depending on the church and the people, it might be a judgmental, unloving reaction - or it might not - but either way there would be a reaction.

And shouldn't there be? Shouldn't it make you think "What is happening in this persons life, their heart, their soul, that they have ended up this way? They need to know the love and freedom that is available! Dont let them miss out and struggle on a minute longer! Love them!"

The thing is, those people don't come into our churches. I didn't. At my worst point I hadn't been to church for years, and even though I was starting to admit to myself I still did believe in God, I wouldn't have set foot in a church. I couldn't. I felt too ashamed. I felt like I would be judged and rejected for my failures.

Maybe I wouldn't have been - there are many welcoming loving churches out there. But there are manny desperate people out there who feel the church is the last place they will find love and acceptance.

So for the first time - because normally I avoid telling people (Christians) the truth about those years of my life - I'm wearing it.

The urban dictionary says wearing it is about being humiliated. Fortunately for me, I know longer feel shame about it. Fortunately for all of us, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

Because Jesus already 'wore it'. Everything. All our sins. Every. Single. One.

There is no fear or shame, but love, mercy, grace and forgiveness.

And a desperate world out there who needs what we've got.