Ephesians 2:8
For by GRACE you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is THE gift of God.
January 1st....
A new year...
A fresh start...
The slate has been wiped clean, so to speak.
All the failures of 2015 have been cataloged.
Hopefully we have learned from our mistakes....Hopefully we have confessed, repented, received forgiveness and moved on in this journey with Jesus.
So here on January 1, 2016 I want to take a moment and celebrate the grace that brought me to Christ.
Not just any grace.....
But Amazing Grace. Grace that is as real as this chair I am sitting in. Grace that is the empowering presence of God in me and my life that enables me to be who God created me to be, and to do what God has called me to do....
Grace that is so amazing, that the very sound of word rolling off my tongue causes gratefulness to rise up in this old heart of mine. How sweet the very sound of that word is to me. For when my thoughts are wrapped in this wonderful Grace, I am reminded that at one time I lived outside the will and grace of God. I pushed back against this gift of Grace. I ran from the mere mention of the word. Why? Because my heart was dark with sin. I could not see the truth of God's love. I could not fathom the depth of such love that would send a Son to die in my place. Surely such thoughts of a Savior were not true. Surely they had to be concocted by some religious mind to be used to keep mankind in line (if such a thing were possible). Never the less, the Amazing Grace of God was poured out on me. When I ponder such thoughts, I truly can say that once I was lost, but praise God...I am found. Found by the nail pierced presence of Jesus. I was blind...a blindness that is of the heart and not the eyes. A blindness that causes a person to look within for answers, not realizing that the solution to our spiritual state is found in a POWER that is greater than ourselves.
We don't like the truth.
We don't like the truth especially when it comes to our character and self worth.
We will prop ourselves up with image, smoke and mirrors in an effort to project the idea that we are o.k. Grace knocks all the props out from under us, for it was Grace that saved a WRETCH like me. Yes, like the apostle Paul, I too am a wretched man in need of a saving God, and it is God's grace afforded to me that changed everything.
So here on January 1, 2016.... I will let my thoughts drift around this Amazing Grace. I will savor it in my spirit and celebrate A God so big that loved me so much. He found worth in me that I could never have seen on my own. He has found worth in you also. So as this new year begins to unfold, let it be the year of Grace. Let it be the year that we are filled with the empowering presence of God.
Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
God on all of us today...
mbb
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