Grace

So often times we find ourselves wandering. Sometimes we wander a lot. We wander far away from where we want to be. When wandering we lose sight of ourselves and who were are and who we were meant to be. I tend to find myself wandering when I've forgotten Who created me. I forget the great love that He has for me. I take for granted the perfect life His Son lived and the horrible, painful, shameful, forsaken death He died. I forget the ultimate victory that His death had over sin, hell, and death itself. I forget the freedom that I have from the mercy that Christ so graciously bestowed upon me and the rest of the world. Christ died for me. He died for you. He died for every single person that has ever and will ever live. His perfect life atoned for the great debt that we could not pay. The debt we could never work off--no matter how hard we try to be good. Our goodness will never match Christ's perfection. We can never attain His perfection by doing good works. Some who call themselves Christians believe that this is so--if they stay away from certain "evil" things--and they go day by day doing "good"--they will be perfect. Well, I hate to burst their bubbles--but that simply is not the case. But take hope all you sinners who try to do good--and truly want to do good because of Christ. In Him, we are made new. In Him, we are sanctified. We are transformed. When we wander we lose sight of these things and all the goodness that Christ has for us. We forget that He wants us to draw closer to Him so He can make us more like Himself.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

Philippians 2:5-11

I do not want to forget the sacrifice that Christ made for me. I do not want to wander away from His love. For without Him, I can do nothing. I want to be made like Christ. I want to be like Him. I want to love the way He did--unconditionally and sacrificially. I feel like that is how He wants us to love. That is not an easy thing to do--but as I reflect back on what Christ did for me over 2,000 years ago--I want to be mindful of why He died the death He did. He did it for us--He did it out of love--not because we deserved it--but by His grace and mercy--and HIS GREAT LOVE. In the end, it's all about love.

Praise be to my gracious, merciful, powerful, great, awesome, and most loving Savior and Heavenly Father for doing for me what I could never do for myself. Hallelujah--Hallelujah--PRAISE THE ONE, RISEN SON OF GOD!