One of my biggest pet peeves in this Christian walk is when people use the phrase "Christians aren't supposed to _____ right?" It frustrates me because it's almost like they wait for you to slip, just so they can call you out. That's low-key what the devil does though; he waits for you to slip up so that he can remind you of how short you fall and try to convince you that you aren't capable of anything more. Even though it gets on my nerves, I love to use that as a teaching moment for any individual (even the devil himself). Of course, I don't want to do anything that goes against God to even give a person ammunition to call me a hypocritical Christian. An easy fix for that would be just be perfect at all times right? Lol. Okay, so since that's not happening, the spirit-led option is to effectively explain to them the Grace of God.
John 1:16
Out of the fullness of His grace He has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another.
The grace of God is literally my favorite concept in the Bible. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. It blows my mind every time I think about it, almost incomprehensible. After all the bad things that I've done, you still love me God? After I've knowingly and unknowingly sinned against you countless times, you still grant me the privilege of walking with You, Lord? How? Why? I'm so undeserving but I'm so grateful. Understanding the grace of God requires us to be aware that we are sinners and will forever remain sinners, but that, through Jesus Christ's death for us, we can still get to experience heaven. As a natural sinner as well as someone who always struggles with finding a loophole in situations, that used to gets my wheels spinning and my mind wandering.
My former mindset: I can do what I want and I can still receive grace? BET. I can believe in God and do what I want. He'll forgive me. I'll still go to Heaven. BOOM.
That's not how it works. However, sadly, that's how we do God sometimes.
Romans 6:15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
This scripture is always a wake up call for me. Just because I know God will forgive me, doesn't mean I should take advantage of that and be outright disrespectful. When I'm in that crucial crossroad of, "Do I do this or do I not?", God's grace is always in the back of my mind. We can't use that as a crutch to hobble back over to the same sins that have a hold of us. The goodness of God should propel you to want to make Him proud, not justify why you can get away with sinning against Him. GOD'S GRACE IS NOT TO BE ABUSED. He's all about unconditional love and grace, but at the same time, He's not about to play with you. He'll let you flex your freewill for a little bit but, sooner or later, He'll put you in your place.
So I'll just leave this right here for reference:
Exodus 34:6-7
And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation."
Like, yikes bro.
So yeah, I don't even want that smoke. Now, it's obviously easy to say when I'm in my Word and working on my blog post, but I honestly strive to keep that same energy whether I'm at church or at a party, praying through every circumstance, ESPECIALLY the circumstances that require me to extend grace to others.
Colossians 3:12-14 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
The reason I chose to write about grace this time around is because I think I'm getting the hang of it. I believe the reason why it's so hard for people to understand God's Grace is because His grace is not like our grace. Our grace, if we even choose to extend it, is often conditional. The grace we give will never be perfect; it will always be flawed, just like the rest of us. All we can do is try our best to get as close to God's grace as we can. I've recently encountered multiple situations where I had to give grace to people who have hurt me in the past. It was like an out-of-body experience for me. I literally saw myself at the fork in the road where my two paths were to either, "be cold and don't forgive" or " give grace like God gives grace to you". Do you know how good it was to pass those tests? It felt amazing to know that I was walking out something that God told me do. That's not even the best part of it all. The best part is that I was able to be a light to show others; I'm not just encouraging them to extend grace in their own situations, but I'm doing it too. I'm walking it like I talk it, and I know God was pleased in those moments. THAT makes it all worth it.