Grace & Truth

Condemnation, why does it comes so easily, so naturally? 

I want to come back to sin & forgiveness again today, with a true life confession.

A couple of Sundays ago, I did the stupidest thing.  I overreacted and kind of showed my bottom.  The day started out so sweet, actually my whole week had been really nice.  I woke up that morning and spent some time with Jesus, he had really loved up on me.  He spoke to me through his Word and let me know He sees me and He knows me.  I jumped on FB and shared that with a group of friends.  I just wanted to let them know they were heard and known and loved too.  While I was getting ready that morning I was thinking about my faith and all that it meant to me.  When we got to church our pastor preached about that very thing, and again I felt really loved and seen and heard.  The message was so good, Pastor Steve spoke about faith and all that it means.  He talked about the  fruit of the spirit, found in Galatians 5 (peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control) and about walking out your faith and what that looks like.  Then, as we were leaving, we saw some of our friends and I was so happy to see them.  We got to talk and catch up and love on each other.  Again, it was just such a nice day and my heart felt so happy.  So, what happened next?  Well I’ll tell you.  We left church and everything pretty much went out the window.  My head starting hurting. We went to a local restaurant and there was a terrible wait and I just got grumpy. Maybe it was hangry, I’m not sure, but the trouble lies in how I acted next.  I wasn’t nice to the hostess!  She did several things that really bothered me, and I just acted kind of stupid really.  It wasn’t outrageous, I didn’t scream or yell, but I certainly didn’t act nice or show grace.  After we finally sat down I knew I should’ve apologized, but I didn’t. It was just kind of a day ruined for sure.  All because I chose to act ugly instead of showing love.  So why am I sharing all this?  Well, I feel like there are probably a few of you out there that have lost your cool a time or two also.  And here’s the thing, it’s not good!  It makes you look like a fool.  It’s embarrassing.  It was embarrassing for my family.  It was a bad example to my family, just all bad really.  I felt pretty rotten the rest of the day and then the next day when I woke up to do my quiet time, I couldn’t even pray. Condemnation hit me so hard!  I over thought it to death.  My death, death to my joy, death to my peace.  I was beating myself up so bad that I couldn’t even pray, but here’s the thing, that’s when we need to pray the most.  God’s Word says in Romans, that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.  I didn’t remember that verse in the moment, but I did go to my Bible, because I always find my peace there.  I have been praying through Psalms the last few weeks so I opened my Bible to the place I had left off the day before.  Psalm 24:1  “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to him.”  Man, that hit me so hard!  I felt like the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart, He said, it’s not’s important that you were embarrassed or that you were a poor example, that is pride. Here’s what I want you to get. That hostess belongs to me. She’s a real person, made in my image, a girl doing her job, and she did not deserve the way you acted.  I have shown you so much love and grace, but what good is it if you don’t show it to others?  I am crying as I write this because even as I do He is still speaking to my heart.  He just reminded me of his words in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!”  So, here’s the thing, is the way I acted yesterday okay?  Absolutely not. I messed up and I am still not sure what to do about it.  I would definitely like to apologize, and so wish I would have before I left that restaurant.  I just really want to say I’m sorry, although I fully realize that doesn’t undo what I did.  I can definitely do better next time, and I pray that I will, but what I really want to share in telling you this long story is this: when we mess up and we definitely will, we don’t have to beat ourselves up for days. That is a waste of the precious time we have been given.  Our God is a God of grace and truth!  His grace says, when you mess up I see you and I still love you, and His truth says, when you mess up it hurts others and it hurts me, don’t do it!  Truth and grace also say, He actually died so we could know forgiveness.  He died for that hostess and he died for me.  He died so that we didn’t have to sit long in our sorrow, so that we didn’t have to spend hours in shame.  He definitely doesn’t want us to hurt others, but when we do, he wants us to realize what we’ve done, be truly sorry and do better the next time!  He loves that hostess and He loves me and He’s good and He’s great and He’s gracious, and even when we act our worst He loves us so much!  He is the God who corrects, but He is the God who teaches and loves.  He is for us and he truly sees us and knows us.  He knows when we’re bad and he knows when we are trying so hard to be good and do right, and He loves us fully in both of those places.

So Father today I thank you for your truth, for your Word, for forgiveness and for grace.  I thank you for mercy and for second and third and fourth chances.  I give you this day and pray that in it, my heart and my actions would please you.  Let me walk in the grace and love I have been given and let me fully rely on you to show me how.   Thank you Father for the way you love us, the way you correct us and the way you encourage us to keep moving forward.  I thank you for listening and letting me pour my heart out and most of all, I thank you for Jesus, my savior and redeemer.  I pray all of this in His name, amen ♥️