Grace

At the church that I attend, the pastor encouraged us at the start of the year to ask God for a word that would become our theme for 2013.  This theme would be a focal point of our spiritual growth in 2013.  Well, I have never been big on New Year's Resolutions, so naturally it took me until February before I took the pastor's encouragement seriously.

For 2013, God is wanting me to reflect on, remember, and understand GRACE.

Here are a few ways this theme of grace is already challenging me in my daily life.

1.  I am in desperate need of God's gracious acceptance of me being my identity.  I know that He is my creator, and He formed me.  But truthfully, I often feel loved only if I perform well in life, school, relationships, or in Christianity.  You see in my life, I learned performing well in school, ministry, and life earned me accolades, attention, and love.  The funny thing about being loved through performing is that you always have to perform more.  Well, this year instead of performing, I want to trust in his graceful love.

God's gracious acceptance of me will change the way I handle sin and temptation because now I won't have to handle it.  I wallow in sin.  When I struggle with lust, my tendency is to bury it deeply and hope no one finds out.  Shame overwhelms me.  I beat myself up for doing something stupid, while at the same time trying to fix the problem so it doesn't happen again.  But God in his grace pursues me in the midst of my sin.  He pursues me knowing my sin.

Remembering grace will not just change how I interact with myself in my thoughts, but it will also change the way I act with others.  During my first year of marriage, I learned that I have the tendency to hold Elise to hold the same standard that I hold myself to.  I am rigid.  Things have to look a certain way.  As I remember and understand God's grace for me, I pray that in 2013 I will treat others with the same grace that I myself have received.  I hope all my relationships are transformed by this reality, but I especially hope this principle continues to grow and develop intimacy in my relationship with my wife.