I mess up quite a bit. There is nothing perfect about me. I am okay with that. I have no ideas that I will be perfect at any point. It doesn’t mean I don’t stop trying to improve and grow. I am always looking for ways to become better, kinder, and show more love. I am always striving to find out what God means when he asks us to love him and love our neighbor. This can be challenging even in the easiest of times. So I am reminded that as I struggle, his grace is even more important. His grace reminds me that I am not on a merit system and I do not have to earn his love. That is freeing and refreshing. I don’t have to do enough good things to make God love me.
God loves me and God loves you because he made us. He created us and gave us life and breath. We are given so many opportunities to show love to others that can only come from being loved so very much. Grace is one of those things that is not always easy to hear or to take in. We don’t always feel worthy (or maybe we never do). We always want to dredge up the past or wear it like a backpack everywhere we go. We want to point out the million things we have done wrong. Isn’t it amazing that we can remember all those things that we did so wrong but struggle to remember all the good we have done? But God has taken care of all of it. He doesn’t worry about our past, he looks forward to our future. He has given us a hope for so much more. And it all begins with grace.
Today, I pray that you embrace the grace that you have been given. You are given God’s grace because he loves you so very much. You are given his grace, not because you earned it or deserve it – you are worthy simply because you are his. May God’s grace wrap you tight and lead you into the future that has so much to look forward to. May God remind you that you are loved more than you could ever imagine. God’s grace really is amazing.
Focus Scripture:
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
Photos included in Devotions are captured by David Cain – The Cain Gallery. Photos are available for sale by contacting The Cain Gallery
SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY 