Sitting with the Lord and thinking about grace…
What I was thinking is how easy it is for us to accept God’s grace for our shortcomings and how hard it is to believe that same grace can cover other people’s shortcomings. I’m often guilty of that and so I sit in repentance. This season is a reminder that God so loved everyone of us and trust me He knew about the sins we’d commit. Yet He loved everyone of us so much that He gave His only Son for us. He sent Him in the lowliest, most humble and most innocent way possible to this world to redeem all mankind. That includes every vile egregious sin known to man, canceled, the second we repent and ask for forgiveness and remembered no more. The act of “remembering no more” is supernatural. It is the human inclination to remember other’s mess ups, mistakes and sins far longer than we remember any good that their lives may have brought to the world. Remembered no more is impossible without the help of the Holy Spirit. Human nature tells us to remember theirs but forget ours. Human nature tells us to hold them at fault but esteem ourselves better. Human nature says to whisper about it to others in an act of superiority because well yeah I messed up but not as badly as they did! Hebrews 10:17 says, “And their sins and iniquities will I (God) remember no more.” I’m sitting with the Lord asking, How do you do that? I feel like my brain is wired to remember. As I get older, my memory is very precious to me because boy can I forget why I even went in the kitchen. But boy do I remember how that person hurt me! How do you do that Lord? Holy Spirit speaking the answer clearly to my heart , “by remembering that the same grace that I extend to you to cover your sins is the same grace I extend to others to cover theirs. Don’t discount the power of my grace!” Ok so I said to the Lord let me get this straight. I’m supposed to

“Forget the sin and remember the grace!”

Whew hallelujah! Remember the grace! Grace consciousness! That declutters my mind a whole lot when I remember the grace. That wipes out years of feeling offended by what someone did to me when I remember the grace. That erases a lot of hurt and pain that I’ve suffered in my life when I remember the grace. That helps me see others through the eyes of compassion rather than the eyes of disdain when I remember the grace. That makes me less judgmental about other people’s lives and choices when I remember the grace. That humbles me and makes me less opinionated when I remember the grace. That same grace that Jesus’s blood bought for me is the same grace that His blood bought for others. Don’t discount the power of grace. Less we fall. I’m led to Galatians 6:1 “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” So if I remember the sin and forget the grace then I will have fallen and discredited the whole reason Christ came into this world. Tis the season to forget the sin and remember the grace!!! “Remember no more” such powerful words the Holy Spirit is ministering to me right now. Hard to fully wrap my brain around it so I’m sure we will have this conversation again. After all, it is the reason for the season. Help Holy Spirit!

Just sharing my actual late night musings. Forget the sin and remember the grace. Jesus is the reason…I’m going to sleep on that thought… Night night!