There is a grace that washes us clean, transforms our hearts, and challenges us to love deeply even when it seems too difficult. God first extended this grace to us through His Son, Jesus, as He took on our sins and willingly gave His life to reconcile us. We live in this grace everyday- it has become apart of our stories with God and testifies of His power in our lives. As God first extends this grace to us, He then invites us as His children and His heirs to extend this grace to each other. His grace is part of our inheritance and calling. He calls us to throw all hurt, all “justification,” and at times all reasoning out the window and to open our arms wide to receive one another. When we really experience that kind of depth of loving grace that God has given to us, our response is to mirror what Jesus did for us. What an invitation and privilege to be invited into such a deeply intimate place of knowing God and what He has done for us- that He desires to bring us into the fold of His love and reveal His grace to us. Not the pretty picture of grace, but the messy part of the gospel story. The messy part being our sin and how it tears down and separates us from God and hinders us from really loving.
I don’t want to love and give out of who I am- that grace is limited and has an expiration date. I want to love with a Love that is bigger than me. I want to be emptied of myself and filled with more of Jesus. I feel God inviting me into this space of extravagant grace- to receive it and to extend it. Entering into this kind of intimacy with Jesus is both an honor and a bit scary too. I am in awe and more in love with Him than I have ever been. I thought I knew what grace was, what Love was but He has expanded my heart and opened my eyes to see a greater depth of Him. It’s a lot- that weight of love and grace. And to think that I’m still only knee deep in His love blows my mind! I think the scary part is extending grace and love without condition as Jesus did with us is so beyond what us as humans could ever do. It goes beyond the shores of what we think grace is and we swim out into a place of crazy intimacy. As God leads me out into the deeper end of His love and grace, I feel the waves of His truth consuming me. I can remember sitting in the backyard of the little church we stayed at in Olango, Philippines and weeping because I had never known such intimacy with Jesus before. As He opened my heart, He opened up more room in me for Him. I can feel His grace and His love empowering me and flowing out of me. I can confidently say it is a Love that is beyond my capacity and can only come from Him. It’s risky to give without condition, if I am honest but the risk is worth it when you literally can feel God’s grace moving through your words and your actions. It’s worth the risk when you recognize you have been invited into what God is doing in His kingdom and that He is using YOU to extend His invitation of grace and love. It’s worth the risk when you know God is using you to transform and heal the hearts of His children. I believe that if we, as God’s children, joyfully surrender our lives to Him, allow Him to take us into the deeper end of His love and risk it all for the sake of His kingdom through loving without reservation we will see a move of God that we have never known before. We are apart of a great move of God in the nations. I see it in me, in my team, in the countries we have visited. God is on the move and is inviting us to play a significant part in wooing His children back to Him. How could we not lay it all down and run wild in His love? Let’s go to the ends of the earth all for the sake of LOVE! There is an invitation being extended to our generation to rise up and take our place in God’s kingdom. He doesn’t need us, but He has chosen to use us. I don’t want to stand back in my fear and selfishness, I want to take the risk and GO. I’m throwing off my shoes and diving into the deeper end with Jesus. And there is even MORE for us. The concept of even more than this kind of depth God has opened up in me makes my heart beat faster. How could I even contain more of Him? Oh but He makes a way. And He is making a way in you too. Grab hold of Jesus and let Him lead you out into the deep end of His love and His grace. The risk is worth the reward.
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