2165 That’s God’s Grace

Have you ever questioned if God really likes you? We’ve been told over and over again that Jesus loves us … but does he like us? Is he pleased with us? How does he see us when we fail? When we struggle? When we wander? I met a beautiful woman at our Colorado Retreat named Stevie. Stevie is this strikingly woman with black hair, a huge smile, tattoos, and rides a Harley. Honestly, she’s pretty cool. At Retreat, Stevie shared her testimony so boldly and courageously that you couldn’t help but listen. She said she had been married, then after divorce she went wild. She did everything wrong. She ran from God and ran into a wild way of living that took over her entire life. She drank way too much, she partied, she slept around. But then, she said it was if God just snatched her up and said, “My girl, that’s not the life I have for you.” And THAT is the perfect image of how God looks at us when we’re failing, when we’re struggling or when we’ve wandered. He looks at you as HIS GIRL. You are never NOT his girl. You are his beloved, his masterpiece, his chosen. There’s nothing you can do that changes that. No matter how far off track you’ve gotten and no matter how twisted your life has become, you’re still his girl. And you know what he wants to do … he wants to just snatch you up from that. You know what that’s called? THAT’S CALLED GOD’S GRACE. When instead of getting what you deserve, you get forgiveness before you even ask for it. When instead of being left to your own ways, you get lifted up out of it before you ever even sought it. Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” Who’s the Son – that’s Jesus? What did he come for? To seek and save the LOST. Who are the lost? The ones who are failing – the ones who are struggling – the ones who have wandered. And the ones who don’t even realize they’re failing – the ones who are so wrapped up in performance that they don’t realize how far they’ve wandered. Jesus didn’t come waiting for lost people to stumble upon Him. He came looking for them. Girl, Jesus is LOOKING for you. And what will he do when he finds you – he will snatch you up and cover you with GRACE. Grace is God coming for you when you’ve done nothing to deserve it and everything to convince yourself He shouldn’t. Grace is God’s love moving toward you before you ever think to move toward Him. Grace is God giving you what you could never earn because Jesus paid for what you could never afford. Here’s an image of GRACE: Imagine you’re stranded in the middle of the ocean. Grace isn’t someone standing safely on shore yelling, “Swim harder!” Grace jumps into the water… swims to you… pulls you onto the rescue boat… wraps you in a blanket… and carries you home. You contributed nothing to your rescue except your need. Whatever you’ve done, wherever you’ve strayed, no matter what you’ve been thinking, saying, doing or not doing … there’s GRACE FOR THAT! For most of my life, grace was something that was never personal to me. To be honest with you, I felt I didn’t really need it. I’ve been married to my one and only high school sweetheart for 31 years. I’ve literally never been drunk in my entire life. I’ve never tried a single drug. I’ve been the picture of the good girl. And what grace is really needed for a good girl? I performed for my approval. My success would vouch for me. Grace is for the ones who just can’t get it right on their own – and I was really getting it right all by myself. For real – that was the voice in my head. That’s what I told myself, and that’s what I believed. And then I went and messed it all up. I prayed a prayer I had no idea would completely wreck me. I prayed that God would search my heart. I wrote a devotional on Psalm 139: 23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” But you see, I wasn’t doing it because I thought I needed it – I thought you needed it. But, I mistakenly prayed it too. And with access of my heart granted, the Holy Spirit began a revealing work within me that made me sick of my own self. I saw how incredibly self-righteous I had become. I saw how twisted my pursuits had become and how wrong I had been. Everything I did carried the label of God, but there simply wasn’t a lot of God beneath the label – there was self. And here’s the part that slayed me – GOD HAD ALLOWED ME TO DO IT.