From politics to jean skirts, from guilt to grace

I've slowly been changing my perspective.  It is more of a heart change really.  I don't do politics anymore and I was definitely a political junkie.  But I just don't care to be a part of that world anymore.  I mean it does me no good personally to freak out and worry all the time.

In fact, since I have stopped watching the news the sun has gone on rising and setting.

I also used to pay more attention to the "be in the world not of the world" mentality.  Meaning, what I wore and what I did and how I spoke and what I didn't watch was somehow suppose to show people that I knew Jesus.  I was suppose to be a walking testimony by wearing my jean skirt.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not making fun of jean skirts.  I own two and still wear them.  My point is this - people.don't.care what you wear.  In fact I think that sometimes dressing like that makes you more unapproachable.

You know what people care about?  They care about how much you care about them.

I've been wrong.  I thought it was better if I wore certain things and didn't watch certain things.  But it really only made people not want to talk to me.

I was missing a whole lotta grace.  Grace for myself.  Grace for other people.  Grace grace grace grace grace.

I was always behind.  I didn't know enough Scripture.  I didn't read enough Scripture.  I didn't pray enough for people.  I didn't knock on doors enough, witness enough. 

Calvinist, Arminian,  premillenial, post millineal, allmillenial, dispensationalist, Catholics, Lutheran, Methodists - exhausting.

I've come down to a couple of things.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Eph. 2:8-10

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.   All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Matt. 22:37-40

I know there is a lot more to the Bible - believe me I know it.  I also know this judgemental attitude that I have had for most of my life has gotten me pretty much no where.

I'm not saying anything goes.  I'm saying I am working on giving more grace - to myself, to my husband, to my family, to everyone.

I actually find it easier to give grace to non-Christians now than to Christians.  I'm working on this.  I am a work in progress.

I do find that I "catch more flies" with grace than I do with shame.

I also see a pattern of the people in the Bible.  I tended to judge people for their actions.  Yet my actions are no better than theirs except that I have Jesus.  As an adult I am realizing that people all around me are seriously flawed. And they are in desperate need of grace.

You've seen this before:

~ Noah was a drunk
~ Abraham was too old
~ Isaac was a daydreamer
~ Jacob was a liar
~ Leah was ugly
~ Joseph was abused
~ Moses had a stuttering problem
~ Gideon was afraid
~ Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
~ Rahab was a prostitute
~ Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
~ David was an adulterer and a murderer
~ Elijah was suicidal
~ Isaiah preached naked
~ Jonah ran from God
~ Naomi was a widow
~ Job went bankrupt
~ John the Baptist ate bugs
~ Peter denied Christ
~ The disciples fell asleep while praying
~ Martha worried about everything
~ The Samaritan woman was divorced (more than once)
~ Zaccheus was too small
~ Paul was too religious
~ Timothy had an ulcer
~ Lazarus was dead!


“Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace.”
― Jerry Bridges