Grace in a grocery store

Yesterday I was standing in a store when I saw this happen:
A 2-year-old boy and his mother were shopping. The little boy was sitting in the front of the cart while the mother pushed the cart around the store. I saw they little boy hit his mother. The mother reacted by spanking her sons hand and telling him, “we don’t hit, remember. You know better.”

Most of the time, I don’t listen to the dialogue between child and mother in a discipling moment. I feel embarassed to watch. **Side note** I need a right perspective on discipline. It’s not about punishing or embarassing, but loving the child enough to teach them the truth. Anyways, for some reason, from 50 feet away, this conversation peaked my interests. Immediately after hearing the mother’s response, I felt the Holy Spirit say to me “grace.”

“You knew better.” I’ve been saying that to myself my entire life. Allison, you know better than to lie. You know better than to steal or cheat. You know better than to not do your homework. The list goes on for the context in which we all say that to ourselves. Allison, you know better than to listen to the condemning thoughts in your head. You know better. Why didn’t you read your bible today, or pray, or go to church? Why did you withdraw??? For real, the list goes on.

In the moment of hearing the mother say that phrase out loud, I realized how contrary that is to the grace of God. With a repentant heart, God never says, “You know better.” That just feels like an insult. Instead, Jesus says come to me, receive my forgiveness and grace and love. I don’t hold them back from you because you sinned or disobeyed. My love for you will never change.
There may be consequences for my sinning or disobedience, but what father tells you of the consequences first, then loves on you. I feel like God does it the other way around. He loves on you, then maybe later on he’ll tell you or you will just see and feel the consequences. It is so crucial to know Fathers love.

So this mother told her child that he should not hit and then told him that he knows better. Maybe she taught him before of why we don’t hit, I don’t know. I just think that how much the behavior modification process would take place if we focused on the root instead of the fruit. Children have some reason they hit or bit or disobey. Why not ask them why they did those things? There is a reason. And why not replace the lie that lead them to the action with truth that will lead to good actions?

I feel like we’d learn at a deeper level and grow up with truth and grace instilled in us if we dealt with the root of behaviors. Right now, I feel like I grew up having to perform and not do this, this and this, and also this and that. And if I didn’t measure up, then I wouldn’t be loved. Yes, it is a lie. But what if I was told that there was grace for sinning and messing up. That I could ask for forgiveness and recieve grace. That I was still loved.

there is always a root of why a child hits or bits or disobeys. Maybe they are afraid, maybe they are mad, maybe they just want to be noticed? Why not get at the root first and watch the behavior change itself. We, as adults, do similar things. We go drink or party because we want to fit in, or drown out our problems. We manipulate people because we are afraid of not getting our way. We hurt people with our words because we’ve been hurt ourselves. We all have reasons for doing what we do. Letting Jesus deal with the root and him cover it in grace will always lead us to change our behavior. His love and grace, his kindness leads us to repentance. And repentance is a 180 degree turn, a behavior modification.

Imitate Jesus

I’m currently reading the book of Isaiah. It is filled with so many cool things. Here’s something I read this evening

“I, the LORD, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the Gentiles, To open blind eyes, to bring prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house.” Isaiah 42:6-7

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the LORD.” Luke 4:18-19 (Isaiah 61:1-2)

These passages speak of Jesus. Jesus even quoted Isaiah 61 in Luke 4. The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jesus. Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor (maybe to the poor in spirit?), heal the brokenhearted, bring deliverance to the captives, to restore sight to the blind, and to bring liberty to those who are oppressed. And we can see that Jesus did that. He came to do the Father’s work.

Realizing that I am in Christ, I wondered if I could do the same things. The Holy Spirit lead me to John 14:12. “Most asssuredly, I say to you, he who belives in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and great works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” I believe in Jesus. By faith, I believe in Jesus and believe the words He spoke to be true. So I will do the works Jesus did; I will do the works that Isaiah spoke of. And Jesus did ascend back to the Father, thus we will do greater works than we read about.

It hit me like a ton of bricks! WE can see broken hearts healed and the prisoners released from darkness. Those things don't have to wait until Heaven or until Jesus returns. We can be used RIGHT NOW to see those things happen. The question is: Do I believe? Do my actions match my beliefs that such things can happen? Do I believe that our God IS THE GOD???? Will I put my life on the line? Will I take leaps of faith everyday to believe Jesus and take Him at His Word?

Do you believe?

True Identity

We have heard about identity at lot in the recent years. Protect your identity from people who want to steal it. Don’t let someone steal all that is precious to you. Most people will read this and think of your financial identity. But there is another identity that is at stake and we don’t even realize it!

This identity is one of far greater value. It dictates who you are and how you will live your life. How do you identify yourself? By the way you dress? By the music you listen to? By the friends you hang out with? By how much money you have in stock and in the bank? By the possessions you own? By what church you attend? By how many hours you spend reading the bible or praying? By your title at work or church or in a volunteer organization? The list can go on… We have MANY things to identify with. But if the primary one is not that you belong to Jesus and you abide in Christ, you will not be able to live the life God has planned for you.

If we do not see ourselves as Jesus sees us, how can we life the life we were created to live? God is our creator. But if we do not know why the creator created us and live according to his purpose, we are bound to get hurt and abuse the gifts He gave us. I believe that is one of the reasons we see so much pain and hurt in our world. We have stopped seeking our maker for our purpose and identity.

This past few years has been a journey to discover my identity in the One who created me. The way I viewed myself was not in line with how God saw me. I could not walk in the ways of God because I did not understand God nor did I understand and see how He saw me. But He has done a work in me to shift my eyes so I can now see what He sees in me.

I see some amazing things. I see a Father who is loving. His love for me abounds. He has grace for me when I fall. He sees the righteousness of Jesus when He looks at me. He is my strength. He is my power. He is my salvation. He is my joy. He is my purpose. He is my beloved!

But for a long time after beginning to see the truth there was one lie that stil kept me trapped. I still thought that it was by my power that I stayed on the narrow path. I thought it was up to me to stay holy. God saved me, but now I had to stay perfect. God saved me, but now I have to follow all his rules by my own power and strength. And it worked most of the time. I can be pretty dedicated at times to follow rules (I definitely am a rule follower by nature). But in the times I messed up, I felt the fall hard. I thought all was ruined because I messed up. I thought the grace God had for me was done. I had run out and he would cast me away! I felt the condemnation and shame and guilt for not being able to follow God’s commands.

But how far from the truth was I. Jesus did not save me to then have me, by my own strength, live a righteous life. I could not live a righteous life before Jesus saved me, how could I do it after? I came to God by faith and He saved me. So now, I come to him by faith to keep me and HE DOES!

I ran across a quote from Andrew Murray’s Abide in Christ in the chapter titled, “As you came to him, by faith.”

“And if you ask what exactly it is that you now have to believe so that you may abide in Him, the answer is not difficult.  Believe first of allwhat He said: “I am the vine” (John 15:5).  The safety and the fruitfulness of the branch depend upon the strength of the vine.  Do not think so much of yourself as a branch, nor of the abiding as your duty, until you have first had your soul filled with the faith of what Christ as the Vine is.  He really will be to you all that a vine can be–holding you fast, nourishing you, and aking Himself every moment responsible for your growth and your fruit.  take time to know, set yourself heartily to belive, “My Vine, on whom I can depend for all I need, is Christ.” A large, strong vine bears the feeble branch and holds it more than the branch holds the vine.  ASk the Father by the Holy Spirit to reveal to yoiu what a glorious, loving, mightly Christ this is, in whom you have your place and your life: it is the faith in what Christ is, more than anything else, that will keep you abiding in Him.  A soul filled with large thoughts of the Vine will be a strong branch and willa bide confidently in Him.  Be much occupied with Jesus, and believe much in Him as the True Vine.”

    All of this speaks to me of how much of the work is already done by Christ to keep us close to Him and following Him.  My first step is to believe in all the Christ is.  When I see who Christ is and His power to keep me, I will always come back to Him.  He can and WILL keep me close to him.  His is the True Vine.  The vine is responsible for the growth and nourishment of the branch.  As long as I, a branch in the Vine of Christ, stay connected to the Vine, the Vine will keep me growing.  What a relief that the pressure to perform and be perfect does not rest on my shoulders. 

When Jesus said “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:28,30), He was telling the truth!  Who would have guessed that God actually keeps his word and is faithful to fulfill it?!?  His burden is light and He does give rest.  He gives rest from our striving to earn His love and approval.  He gives us rest from trying to live up to a standard that we cannot live up to.  His burden to follow him IS light because it is by him power we have the faith we need to believe him and stay connected to him as the Vine. 

His call to you is the same call he spoke to me.  Come to Me, Allison.  Come hide yourself in my love.  Come rest at my feet, in my presence.  Come, let me love you and pour out my grace on you. Come, let Me heal your broken heart.  His arms is safe.  He does not accuse, but he welcomes your weary heart.  So humble yourself, and come to Jesus.  Believe in Him and in his word.