The other day as I was listening to “God Is” by The Outer Banks, the words hit me.
“God’s not disappointed,
God’s not keeping score and
God’s not judging my mistakes.”
Then I thought, “I’ve been pretty good today. I bet I haven’t even sinned.”
I was shocked that I had that thought because for so long, that really is how I viewed sin. For a long time, I kept track of my sins and asked for forgiveness every night. I felt like I needed to ask God to forgive me for all of the wrong I had done in one day. With this mindset, I was a slave to sin. I let sin control me and I became obsessed with trying to right my wrongs. I realize now that was a burden that I didn’t need to bear.
Jesus has set us free from sin! The song is true, “God’s not keeping score.” If God is love (1 John 4) and “love keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13: 5), then we can trust that the Lord is not tallying up our sins. After all, can you imagine perfect love focusing on all of your mistakes? That doesn’t sound like love at all!
When I focused on what I had done wrong, I didn’t understand the concept of grace.
Grace is the gift of love and mercy the Lord has given us, not because we have done anything to earn it, but because He wants us to embrace His love. Like any gift, it is one that can be refused, but because it is from a loving God this grace is always available. We know that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). This act of love was not something we had earned, but something the Lord did to show us His love (if you find this concept confusing read Why Did Jesus Need to Die here).
There are a lot of ideas that break down the concept of grace, however, I think John Wesley explains it well. According to Wesley, there are three types of grace: prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace.
Prevenient grace is the truth that God is present in our lives. We do not have to ask for the Lord’s love because we already have it. We are able to choose love over sin because of this grace in our lives and God’s desire to be in a close relationship to us.
When I think of prevenient grace, I think of my desire to have a personal relationship with Jesus when I was younger. I knew that God was good and I believed in Him and His son, but I wanted to know more and to grow closer. The Lord was already present in my life and offering me His great gift of love, I just needed to grow deeper in my faith to truly accept that love and experience it.
Justifying grace tells us that through Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we see the depths of God’s love. The message Jesus gives us is one of reconciliation, pardon, and restoration. We see this in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19,
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
Justifying grace reminds us that Jesus has taken care of our sin and shown us the way to the Father. We do not have to beg God for His love because His love is already available for us. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Justifying grace reminds me that even when I have done the worst thing imaginable, I can still go to the Lord for forgiveness. I do not need to carry the burden of shame and guilt or hide from God until I sort things out. Justifying grace tells me that even in my darkest moments, the Lord still loves me and wants me to run to Him.
According to John Wesley, the third kind of grace is sanctifying grace. This grace reminds us that the journey to holiness and oneness with the Lord is a process. We do not reach a level of perfection in our faith journey as we grow in becoming more Christ-like. Instead, we constantly are learning what it means to be like Jesus through prayer, worship, reading the Bible, fasting, service, and other methods of growing closer to the Lord. Our desire to please God slowly replaces our desire to sin as we become more like Jesus.
Sanctifying grace reminds me that the Lord is always working on my heart. It’s easy to think we have to do something incredible to become more Christlike because Jesus is so incredible. Grace reminds me that by praying and spending time learning with other Christians, I am growing closer to the Lord and learning what it means to live like Jesus.
When I counted my daily sins and asked for forgiveness I didn’t feel the freedom that came with forgiveness and grace. If I could, I would tell that younger version of myself: you are loved more than you can imagine. You cannot live a life for the Lord if you focus on the bad you’ve done, not the goodness of God. You are free to live in freedom because Jesus has taken away the weight of your sins. Celebrate the gift of grace!
I hope that this makes the concept of grace more clear. What do you think of grace? How do you remind yourself of God’s grace in your life?
Peace and blessings,
Shaina
