My grandfather recently brought home a football program, like he has every year for the past 60 years. I was looking through it and this year they did something different. They asked each football player questions and posted it by their picture, favorite music, favorite quote, and how they want to be remembered. Of course most of the players said “A great football player”, “Nice”, “Funny”.. but then I came across one young man who said “Christ-like” , his favorite song was by Relient-K and I thought to myself I like this kid! I want to be remembered like that too.
Later I started reading a devotional called “Life Matters”
The first paragraph read :
“In a perfect world, Christians flee hypocrisy like the plague. Their lives are
marked by selflessness, humility, and compassion. True Christ-followers
admit their mistakes and work hard to strengthen their weaknesses. They
ask forgiveness when it’s their fault, and they give grace when it’s someone
else’s. They love the unlovable. They forgive the unforgivable. They take
care of the helpless. They encourage the overwhelmed. That is Christianity.
But we don’t live in a perfect world.”
HMMMMMMMMMM………
The fact is nobody is perfect. Everybody makes mistakes and we are very blessed to have a God who gave his son to die on the cross for us because we are human, we make mistakes, and we all fall short of the Glory of God. We have heard it a thousand times and a lot of churches now days are Grace-based. I think that is FANTASTIC because it is important to know that even when you slip up and take a wrong turn that God still loves you and thinks you are wonderful and he is always going to be right there with open arms to direct you back to the path that he has made for you when you realize that you made an uh-oh. To him, imperfections and all- you are PERFECT. I never really understood how that was possible until I became a mother, … I know the way he feels about me is how I feel about Avery and Kenzie times a zillion! I don’t really know how that is possible either.
Later in the devotion it goes on to say
“Christian or not, none of us can earn what God has freely given. What
we can do is put our faith in what God did for us and spend our lives
becoming more and more like Jesus.”
There are some people out there that have a very hard time accepting God’s grace.
They think that they have messed up too much, that they are not worthy.
Let me tell you something- this BREAKS my heart completely. Let me tell you why.
Most of us have no problem accepting God’s grace for us and putting our faith in what he did for us, but what comes as a challenge is taking that Grace that God has given to us and in turn giving it to others. We have adopted a “I don’t care what other people think about me, because I know what Jesus thinks about me” attitude. Don’t get me wrong- there is a time and place to have that kind of attitude- at times when people are putting you down because of your morals, calling you ugly, that your stupid, worthless. However, there are also times to care about what others think about you. What kind of impact are you leaving on the world- how are people going to remember you? I don’t want to be remembered as stuck up, self righteous or unforgiving .. I want to be remembered just like that Football player wants to be remembered, as “Christ-like”. How am I going to do that? By doing my best to give people the same Grace that God has given me and letting them know that they are worthy. There is absolutely no reason for somebody to feel that they are un-welcomed because of choices that they have made or people that they have hurt- We have all been there, we have all fallen, and we will all fall again.
Francis Family Ramblings 