Grace.

The Pastor at Ignite tonight (s/o to him because he's from Nashville) spoke about Grace. It really opened my eyes as to how fortunate we are to be born, simply born worthy of Gods Grace. 

Read Ephesians 2:1-7

What is Grace? It's a favor that we don't deserve. At all. It's counter merited favor. Grace gives us what we do deserve, and also what we don't deserve. It is all of the richest blessings that God can possibly muster. How powerful is that? All He can possibly muster. It never excuses our sins and our selfishness, nor does it pass over it. It holds us accountable. Grace stares down what we are too scared to admit. Grace comes to the real you. 

It matters. Grace matters. We often catch ourselves focused on things other than the Grace that God has granted us. We do this literally all the time. We need to stop what we're doing and run quickly and recklessly to God. How sweet is this Grace that we are given? Why don't we appreciate it enough? We start to change when we repeatedly come back to Christ, a million times over. Because God gives us Grace, that's when the real change happens. 

Read verses 1-3. This is why we need Grace. Paul says that we are dead because of our sins and trespasses. We don't do anything to merit Gods amazing Grace. Paul is saying that we are on the absolute bottom, basically dead people. Spiritual death happens not because we aren't moral enough, but because we were all once living the passions of our flesh. Passion means an over desire, for a good thing--all controlling drive and longing. Sinful desires become rooted deep in things that drive and control us. Sin makes us feel like we have to have this, that, and the other: something to give us a since of worth and value. 

Over desire to save face is spiritual suicide and will never bring us the love we long for. Are we willing to be as honest as Paul says God is about us? God has a seating beauty. Because of His Grace, we can be honest about who we are.

Verses 4-7 tell us how Grace comes to us. Grace is Grace because it comes to us freely. How awesome is that? It is free. Our ability to trust in Him is given to us by God himself. How powerful is Gods mercy and Grace is to us. We are all objects of a great divine love, because He loves us. His love is rooted in Himself alone. Grace is something that God gives us because of who He is, not because of what we have earned. It is the only thing that will allow us to rest when we get tired. The heart of what Grace does is that it saves us from real and spiritual death, the death that we have created ourselves. 

The Pastor tonight ended with a Bono quote which sums it up awesomely, "Grace makes beauty out of ugly things."
Courtney