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Enjoying God Blog

If when you sin you run away from God rather than to God, you have failed to fully embrace the grace of God.

If when you sin your instinctive response is one of fear of judgment rather than gratitude for forgiveness, you have failed to fully embrace and understand the grace of God.

If when you sin your immediate reaction is to hide from God rather than openly confess how you’ve failed, you don’t understand grace.

If when you contemplate your own value as a human being you rehearse in your mind personal accomplishments rather than the person of Christ, you have failed to fully embrace the grace of God.

If you typically say to yourself: “I obey, therefore I’m accepted,” rather than “I’m accepted, therefore I obey,” you have failed to grasp the reality of divine grace.

If you are motivated by shame and insecurity rather than joy and confidence, you have failed to understand the grace of God.

If your confidence is in baptism, the Lord’s Supper, church attendance, faithful giving, or any other religious activity, rather than who Jesus is and what he has done for you, you have failed to understand the grace of God.

If when you look at other Christians you resent them for their spiritual growth, you have failed to fully embrace the grace of God.

If, when you grow and increase in conformity to Christ, you pat yourself on the back and silently congratulate yourself for doing what other Christians have not, you have failed to fully embrace the grace of God.

If when you fall short of personal goals you envision God scowling at you rather than smiling, you have failed to fully embrace the grace of God.

If you think that God doesn’t love and cherish you because you are overweight or underpaid or outperformed or inadequate, you have failed to fully embrace the grace of God.

If you think that God loves you because you aren’t overweight, or because you are highly paid, or because you seem more than adequate for every responsibility, you have failed to fully embrace the grace of God.

And finally, if when you contemplate the free forgiveness of sins you are tempted to use that as an excuse to sin all the more, you know little of the grace of God.