Ironically I spent the majority of my afternoons as a junior high and high school student in a dance studio.....teaching littles how to tap dance and point their toes and learning how to get rid of teenage emotion with nothing but a wood floor, a ballet barre, and music.
I learned a lot about myself on the dance floor.
Unfortunately for me, the rest of my free time in high school was too often spent with boys. I wouldn't call it "boy crazy." I think it was more of me "looking for love in all the wrong places" as the song so appropriately goes.
And ironically, I also spent nearly every Sunday morning at church.
I grew up in a Methodist church believing that I was going to heaven because I was confirmed and baptized. I didn't read my bible. I had about a zero prayer life, and God was rarely talked about in my house.
But I thought that I was golden.
The reality was that I had no relationship with Christ and had no clue what the word "grace" actually meant.
I also had no clue that when I was 19, my one day husband would give me the first bible that I would really delve into with my name delicately etched on the cover in silver shiny ink.
Nor did I know that 4 years later, my daughter would enter into this world and we would appropriately name her Addison Grace, partly because of my ironic high school nickname and largely because of what the Lord had done in our lives and would continue to do in our lives.
You see, grace is it.
It's all that really matters.
I had it wrong in high school thinking that if I did this and did that and I checked all the appropriate boxes, I would be saved.
It doesn't work like that.
When I look at my life now I wonder how I ever thought I could have been enough for heaven. I couldn't have. And neither can you.
That's where Jesus enters the picture.
We are not good enough.
We can't ever "do" enough.
You can't earn grace.
It was a gift given to world full of sinners freely. No chains attached.
Jesus entered the world to live a perfect life and die a sinless death so that all of us, a world full of undeserving people, would be able to be free in Christ.
And the key to it all? Grace.
He extends it to us over and over and over again because we will never measure up. And it's not our faults. We live in a world full of sin. There are no perfect people. But the good news is, His love is deep and wide and it covers us. Every time. Through every mistake and every slip up.
His grace covers us.
So if you're tired of trying to do it all and trying to measure up to what the world wants you to be. Stop. The world is broken and weary because of sin. You can't measure up to what you think your life should look like.
Entering into a relationship with Christ will not make you perfect or mistake free. Far from it actually. That's why the Christian world often gets a bad rap as so called hypocrites. Just because you enter into a relationship with Christ does not mean you'll never mess up again. It means that garce will follow you wherever you go.
It's not a crutch, but a peace that can cover you. You'll still mess up. You'll still never quite measure up, but what you can do through the power of Christ in you, is so much more than what you can do on your own.
There are no works that can get you to Him. There is only a relationship. An acknowledgment that Christ was the son of God and that he died on a cross for you and for me.
It's a lot to grasp, I know. But the Lord is pursuing you. He reveals himself to all of us.
Forget about denominations and religion. You can't work your way to heaven, but you can let the spirit of the Lord work through you.
If you want to know more about the grace that covers all your sins both past, present and future, and a God who wants you as you are, I would love to pray with you. Message me on facebook or send me an email.
It's grace that covers us. Grace and grace alone.
Listen to this song about God's love, and be sure to tune into the Bible series tonight on the History channel at 8/7c.
In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. Ephesians 1:7
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
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