When Good Met Grace

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/987683

 

I'm one of the good girls.  Sure, I'm not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I’ve never done anything “really bad”. 

 

 

 

I grew up in a good home, went to Christian schools and was never interested in drugs, drinking, sex, or rock-n-roll.  For the most part, I obeyed my parents and did what I was told.  I was a good girl.

 

 

I've never been arrested and never gotten a speeding ticket (which doesn't mean I didn't deserve one).  I’ve taken people meals when they were sick, sang songs to older folks in nursing homes, worked at a camp for developmentally disabled, given money to missions, and shared what I had with the poor (when it was convenient).  I’ve led Bible studies, faithfully attended church and strived to be "good" in every way. 

 

But my goodness left a bitter taste in the heart of God.

 

We are all infected and impure with sin.  When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags . . .  Isaiah 64.6

 

Buried deep in my heart was a cancer.

 

Secret Sins.  Hidden thoughts, attitudes and feelings. . . 



Pride.  Arrogance.  Condemnation.  Bitterness.  Jealousy.  Greed.  Lust.

 

How easy I found it, to justify my own thoughts and behaviors when I compared them to my friends and their indiscretions.   How quick I was to focus on their glaring flaws and ignore the sickness growing inside of me.   

 

Hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs – beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity . . .     Matthew 23.27 (NLT)

 

Does God care about a “good girl” like me? 

 

One day Grace reached out to me.

 

But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.  He was beaten so we could be whole.  He was whipped so we could be healed.  All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.  We have left God’s paths to follow our own.  Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.   Isaiah 53.5-6

 

Grace brought my secret sins out into the Light.  Grace sent me to my knees and overwhelmed me with sorrow over my evil heart and arrogant spirit. 

 

 

 

Then, Grace lifted me up, dusted me off and wiped the tears from my eyes.  Grace forgave me and set me free from my goodness. 

 

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/467910

 

                                Undeserved . . . Lavish . . . Amazing . . . Grace

 

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re free people – free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds.  And not just barely free either.  Abundantly free!  Ephesians 1.7 (The Message)

 

 

Do you need His Grace today?  Whether you're "good" or "bad", His Grace is for you.