Just the Beginning

One thing I love about kids is that they usually have no shame. Kids sometimes say and do the most ridiculous things and there is little expectation of them being mature or wiser. As a parent you may gently coach or tell your child what is appropriate or inappropriate to say or do, but you know they are young, naive, immature, incapable of understanding some parts of life. Matter of fact, you probably have a strong desire to protect them from those parts of life. Wouldn't it be amazing if as adults we could live like children? What if we were unafraid of failure? What if we knew we would grow and become someone wiser and kinder over time? Instead, we tend to believe that we have to have it all figured out, avoid pitfalls, give wise counsel and sure, we can maybe make small mistakes, but God help us not to make those BIG mistakes. We have endless rules and impossible standards. No wonder we are living bound lives, under an increasing weight that is from the enemy himself.

He is a pretty good accuser. He lives to accuse the sons and daughters of God. His plan is still the same as the Bible states, "to steal... to kill... and to destroy." Not someone else, you. After a while of living free when we first experience the radical and inescapable love of God, we get trapped into setting new goals for ourselves. Rather than our lives of surrender being an overflow from our time with the Father, we try to earn our keep in the Father's house. Remember the book of Galatians when Paul addressed them saying, "This is all I want to ask of you: did you receive the Holy Spirit as a result of obeying the law or was it the result of hearing about salvation and believing it? Are you so foolish and senseless? Having begun your new life in the faith are you now being perfected and reaching spiritual maturity by the flesh?" (Galatians 3:2-3 AMP). When we are first rescued from darkness into light, we understand it was certainly not because of anything we did. All that was required of us was to believe. Somewhere down the line we get it all twisted. We get on this thing called a "winning streak" and begin to think we're good, we've got it made. Pride raises its ugly head, and we ignore all the daily sins we commit. Being prideful in conversations, gossiping, lying, crudely joking, the list goes on. Sin is neither big nor small. It just is. In the winning streak mode, we ignore the fact we sin daily and believe that by avoiding the BIG sins we are doing A-OKAY. We think our goodness is now sustaining our relationship with the Father. This is the opposite of the Gospel of grace.

Grace was, is, and will always be a mystery that we cannot fully fathom. The perfect, sinless One, died and took the legal place of the one who is truly guilty... me. I was born guilty. My crime and its penalty are not from one particular sin, but from my very nature. The only way to be acquitted (set free, declared not guilty) is by the shed blood of an innocent man. In the famous words of Charles Spurgeon, "Satan tells me I am unworthy; but I always was unworthy, and yet You have loved me; and therefore, my unworthiness cannot be a barrier to having fellowship with You now." I love this quote! It reminds me of a heart like that of a child. No mistake has the power to derail this reality. Kids just believe and I want to be like that!

If you have been feeling weighed down over your own mistakes, flaws, weaknesses, be encouraged! This is for you.

Gods' requirement of you is that you stop beating yourself up for not being perfect. He sees the real you, the you that He created you to be. Your story is not over even after the worst kinds of mistakes or heartbreaks this life has to offer. You have no idea where you are truly at in your own story. God wrote your story! If it was over, you wouldn't be here! His plan takes into account every human flaw and mistake and He can turn it around. Satan will accuse you all day long, but you don't have to accuse you. God has a plot twist for every wrong turn. You don't think He saw every part of your story? He knows your story full well. All He wants is your heart and your trust in the fact that He can and will use the bad chapters for a good ending.

My grace is sufficient for you [my lovingkindness and my mercy are more than enough. Always available, regardless of the situation]. For my power is being perfected in your weakness. - 2 Corinthians 12:9

The story of your life is a good story. If it hasn't been so far, it's not over and you don't know the turnaround that's coming. He is perfecting you through His power. He loves you, weaknesses and all. This is just the beginning.