Pastor Nelda Barrett Murraine is the pastor of the First Methodist Church of Kennedale located at 229 W 4th Street, Kennedale, TX 76060.
God?s Grace … {{more:Read More …}}
When we view God?s grace it is usually from our experience with each other. It could be a parent, relative, or our general view of mankind. Our experience with broken and sinful people affect our view of our holy and righteous God. We are not acquainted with grace, truth, and mercy that is tainted by sin. Though we have experienced God?s grace, we?ve never met a person that embodied grace perfectly. Only Jesus Christ was the only perfect one who walked on earth.
As I reflect on how we show grace, there are two things that come to mind regarding how we and our motivation to forgive:
- We are motivated to be gracious because we are aware that we are just as guilty as the person in need of grace.
- We forgive others because we only know a small piece of another person?s guilt.
There are probably more human motivations for showing grace, but these two alone we discover two factors that play a huge role in our ability to forgive, that is our own sin and ignorance.
God is neither motivated by his own sinfulness nor enabled by his ignorance. God is a holy and righteous God, completely void of sin and full of goodness and love. God has never made a mistake, He cannot lie, and He can do anything but fail.
He is perfect in all His ways.
However, when we, his sinful and rebellious prodigal children, wallow in our sin, spit in His face and grieve his Spirit, he calls us to repentance with open and loving arms saying, “Come home, child.? He forever holds us in the hollow of His hand.
He knows all the ways we?ve sinned against him. He knows everything we?ve ever done and can stomach it. His knowledge of us and who we really are, will never hinder his love for us. He?s even aware of the evil behind our righteous deeds. His love for us and the intimacy by which the Lord knows us, and but can lovingly embrace us as his children is an unconditional, supernatural love. God?s grace is mind-blowing.
We serve a God whose love is never ending.
In the Scriptures, the message of this grace is proclaimed. Our God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin? (Exodus 34:6-7).
This is why it is so important to read the Bible and communing with God is essential to Christian flourishing. The less we read and pray the Bible, the more blemished our view of God becomes. If you want the grace of God to absolutely turn your life around, read your Bibles.
“I don’t know how, but I know WHO!”
Peace,
Pastor Nelda
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