Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them.
Hebrews 13:7-9 The Message
I hope by now we realise where to place our self-worth. If you have to look in a mirror (I try not to) remember what you see is Grace. God’s riches at Christ’s expense. He loves you so much he died for you. Surely that is enough to talk back to the mirror. As the fairy tale says, “mirror mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all”. The answer is you are by God’s grace.
Remember self-image is based on. how we feel which leads to insecurity, how we speak and behave and worst of all pleasing everyone for acceptance.
How do I receive and operate in Grace?
Two examples are given in the Old Testament.
Moses
Great start. Then he blows it. He hears from God because while in the palace he makes a decision to follow God. The problem is how he is going to follow. The killing of the Egyptian is the answer, and Moses did it his way.
The Lord says; Not by power, not by might but by my Spirit. Moses is left to wander in the wilderness for forty years, receiving guilt and shame.
God speaks at the bush and Moses says who am I? Moses had an identity, intimacy, inferiority complex, feeling of inadequacy stemming from guilt and shame. And God said, “I will be with you”.
We receive grace when we accept our freedom from guilt and shame.
Samson
Threw away his gifting for a woman and a harlot at that. Humiliated and blind. Here is someone who does not deserve God’s grace, he had it all and threw it away.
Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “Sovereign LORD, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.”
Judges 16:28
God answers “yes”. Why? Because we receive grace when we realise all our expectations. I deserve nothing. We realise we are limited.
We receive grace when we are willing to humble ourselves and admit we need grace. Not ashamed to admit our weakness.
Conclusion
First, it takes humanity. In other words, an attitude that says in authentic honesty, “I am only human-I’m no prima donna, I can’t walk on water, and I won’t try to impress you.” Grace awakens within folks like that.
Second, it takes on the attitude of humility. Nothing is so welcomed by grace as true humility, which is nothing more than a realisation of one’s standing before God.
Humility has learned the hard way that no person can operate in the flesh and produce any good thing, so it prevents us from trying.
Let me leave you with a quote from earlier in the week.
When George MacDonald, the great Scottish preacher, was talking with his son about the glories of the future, his little boy interrupted and said, “It seems too good to be true, Daddy.”A smile spread across MacDonald’s whiskered face as he answered back, “Nay, laddy, it is just so good it must be true”.
Stay Safe Blessed.