Beloved

Do you believe in grace? And do you believe that God’s grace covers all of your sin? I do. I know that there is nothing I can do to make Him love me more or less.

This year one of the biggest things I have strive for is to view people the way God views them. I think it is a good way to share Jesus with people when you meet them right where they are instead of expecting them to fix some stuff before they can come and stand with you before the King. The reason I have wanted to focus on this and meditate on it because I have actually had conversations with people who don’t understand grace and how God truly sees them. It breaks my heart and I just want to shake them and say YOU DON’T GET IT!!!!!!!! You can’t earn grace people, it’s a gift. You can’t change the way he thinks about you.

The other day I was in Oklahoma City when it started to snow.  I was so cold, walking and finding my car was miserable, and I was getting frustrated fast. When I got in my car it took forever to warm up and I was getting even more aggravated.  I then realized I never ate lunch and I was starvingggg. So (naturally) I found a chickfila and went through the drive through. It took about 20 minutes and I was in such a bad mood because I was so cold, starving, and impatient! I pulled out to a stop light and saw this homeless man holding up a sign and it looked like he was shivering to death. The first thing I thought was I wonder what he did to get in that position. I wonder if he had been into alcohol or drugs or what got him there. Then I was so disgusted with myself for being so ungrateful and upset about being cold and hungry when this man had no warmth and no food. I rolled my window down and handed him my chickfila, and as he grabbed it thanked me. But then I realized something way worse. I had just judged him right of the bat. I saw him and put him in a place “far from where I was at”. What makes me better than him? What makes me more deserving of knowing Jesus than him? I realized I had judged him and saw him the way man sees him.

 But how does God see him? Man thinks a person like that would be unreachable. God just waits patiently.

One of the things that keep non-believers from truly questioning and experiencing God is them not having a clear understanding of how God actually views us. They have been told lies all of their life, and the negative circumstances in life just verify those lies. So we see people for their rights and wrongs. We classify them as “unreachable.” But Jesus approached people from all different places no matter where they were in their life. He focuses on the relationship rather than the right or wrong. He is compassionate. He doesn't discriminate. He meets you where you are. How sweet is that?

So how does God view us? I cannot even begin to comprehend his love for us or imagine what he thinks of us. But there are two things I really like that I know he does see in us.

Children. You have probably heard the saying “child of God.” But what does it mean? It means we are his beloved. His son or his daughter (keyword HIS!) One of my favorite stories in the bible in John is when Mary is washing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume and oils and the men in the house are questioning her for doing so. And Jesus responds with “Leave her alone.” We are his children! He has so much compassion and unconditional love for us.  He will even stick up for us!! He fights for us because we are his. He is our father and wants to give us freedom and life.

Blameless. This is the hardest thing for humans to grasp. How could a God so just view us as blameless? Even in God’s wrath, his mercy compared to it is astounding. That’s the thing about Jesus. He has unending grace. He wants us to not get caught up in right and wrong and focus on the relationship instead. I have seen God do crazy things and redeem people in ways so cool I can’t even explain it. And it is when we focus on the relationship that we find a life worth living.

I can pray and strive to view people for only the good and not the bad and I might get better but I can never come close to the way God sees them. That is so powerful. How different would you be if you strive to see people the way God sees them? God is way bigger and doesn’t see people as “unreachable.” And he wants us to meet people where they are just as he met you where you were.

If we believe that we are his beloved and we see that God’s grace has covered all of OUR sins, how can we not see it cover other people?

When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” John 8:7

"Come now, let us settle the matter," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Isaiah 1:18