Faith, Culture, & the Church

UA-115346459-1

Fighting for Grace to Win

3/11/2019

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:36-40, NIV).

I walked away from a conversation the other day feeling wounded, like I had just been hit with an uppercut from a prizefighter. And this seems common lately, these unexpected blows caused from words, circumstances or judgments not founded on truth. Although another hit left me reeling, feeling like I might just fall to the mat, I have come to a new dependence on and understanding of grace. For this I am grateful.

Grace is an eloquent and beautiful word. But it came at a brutal cost--bloodshed and death. Grace from heaven is freely given and I delight in the grace I receive. But to extend grace is a constant and exhausting boxing match that takes place in my heart, mind and soul. Lies must be beaten down. Thoughts that assume the best of the other need to be set at center. And truly believing the God's really good at defending his own must outrun the determination to fix things myself.

To be grace to the one who jabs my sides is a brutal fight. A fight that requires a death. Grace required Christ’s death. And for grace to win in my heart, a death of my desires to seek truth and justice for selfish gain or emotional satisfaction must also occur.

Grace has already won me. But to allow grace to win in me the full armor of God must be put on. Hour by hour. Day by day. Week by week. I must suit up and fight to believe that I win, the Church wins, and relationship wins when I set aside my defenses and let grace truly cover the offenses. Because grace makes way for forgiveness. Forgiveness ushers in freedom. Glorious, undeserved, freedom!

Freedom sets us free from pain, bondage and mind games. Grace, forgiveness and freedom keep relationships intact and the body of Christ effective. And this is why relationships increase our Christ-likeness, propel us toward our purpose and build up lineage after lineage of faith.

My challenge for you today is for you to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you more clearly all the ways he has entrusted the gifts of relationships to you. So that you can love him more completely and love his people more intentionally. For example, friends, neighbors, co-workers, mentors, parents, children, widows, orphans, or the elderly. Pray for discernment to know in what area(s) of your life you need to intentionally pursue deeper relationships with others who grow your need for understanding and living grace.

Pray that you will know what obedience looks like for you and that you would know how to access the power, resources and creativity to obey. Take one step, and then the next one, and the next. Soon each step might be just a little bit easier. Or you’ll be stronger, so it will at least seem easier.

Jesus once said to his disciples, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:35, NLT). How we live in relationship with others impacts the world of observers around us. Take the time often to Go & See who has helped to prove to you, through the way he or she loved, that relationships graft us into a tree of faith that started with the lineage of Jesus. Reminisce about those dear ones that loved you unconditionally, with grace and truth, setting you on the path you are on today. Let your remembering and documenting fill you with a gratitude that motivates you to pass keep the faith family tree growing.

And when words jab, assumptions knock you down, or circumstances throw you off balance, don't give up on the people it appears you are fighting against. Choose to put down your comebacks and let God be your defender. Choose to fight the real enemy--Satan the deceiver, liar, and destroyer--with prayer, praise, and truth. Choose to fight for grace to win in you because it has already won you.

1 Comment

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9/19/2019 11:22:04 pm

The message of the post is to remind us the value of fear and love to the Lord. There should be no thing or person that will surpass the love that we have for the Lord. This is a commandment with promise and we will be blessed if we keep on following the commandments. We can ensure that everything will be just fine and if there are issues that may arise then we can be assured that the Lord will be there by our side. Always prioritize the Lord and we will be rewarded.

Jaclyn Loween

I wear many hats, but the ones I have worn the longest are daughter and Christian. I am a daughter to amazing, Godly parents, and I am daughter to the King of the Universe. I am a Christian who depends on grace and passionately loves the Church. One of the heaviest burdens my heart carries is for the Body of Christ. I desperately desire to do all that I can to build up each member of the body and to see God's power come and settle in to the hearts of his people.
I am also keenly aware of the culture (the way of life for the American people): How it so often clashes with the mission of heaven and is jam packed full of brokenness.
And I want no one living in it to miss out on the truest freedom and the greatest hope, neither of which can be found in government nor circumstances.
So, I write. I write about what I know from the Bible and what I see happening around me. I write in hopes that in fleshing out the burdens in my heart with the Word of God and the understanding of the human condition that I can create word pictures, analogies and statements that resonate, speak truth, build others up and point hearts to the path of the one and only Savior King.
That is what you will find on this page of my blog: thoughts, questions, and writing that reflect my musings with understanding the Bible, culture and living faithfully here with heaven in mind.