Grace

If I learned one thing in life it's this: There's Only Grace...I won't sing Matthew West in this moment...maybe later ;)

(The Message, Romans 5)

"By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that's not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.

There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we wouldn't have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!"


I'm a sinner, and regardless of anything that ANYBODY believes...there will never be a day in my life that I get it all right. Just reading the words above...that's why I believe. That's why I will run the race to the best of my abilities. That's why I must die to myself daily, because of that kind of Love. A love that nobody in this world can compete with...a love that though the thought humbles us...we still can't fully comprehend it. Only God loves us like that. Only God can fill the God-sized void in our hearts. Only God can use that which is broken, and then make it new.

I remember vividly the choices I made to deny God. There was even a time, 6 years ago, where I told Him that I'd rather go to Hell than to go to a place that was run in a system like His...

I can't never take those words back.

I meant them at the time.

But no longer....

Sunday my pastor spoke about forgiveness. And all I could think about was the fact that I don't deserve it. I guess that's the point, after all...none of us do. He mentioned that grace was a gift. Romans 5 is a part of that promise to us. I can't take back what I said, but I can live for Him now. I can't change my past, but I will change my future. I can't be good enough, smart enough, kind enough, patient enough, trusting enough, wise enough, or strong enough, by my own merit.

Praise God for Jesus! :)

Tonight, I look back on everything that has brought me here. And I say to Satan, all that's happened was in God's hands. And all that will happen is in God hands! My life is so blessed and I can't stop smiling at how amazing it is! :) But even if God said to me, "Daniel, it's time to break you, again." My response would finally be, "Lord, I trust you. It's not safe, I might get hurt, but I know that You love me and that everything that You do is, ultimately, for my good. So I guess what I what I'm saying to You is that...Your will be done."

Praise God when it rains, and when it shines :)

But don't think that doesn't mean that I won't be beaming when it's shining! :D