Changing by Grace.

Titus 2:11-14 "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good."

If we identify ourselves at Christians, the Bible calls us to be wholly. There is a divide between who we are in the eyes of Jesus, and the way we flush ourselves day in and day out. Fortunately for us, the Grace of God helps us to catch up on the outside who we really are on the inside over the course of our lives. This is known as Christian growth. 

The purpose of Grace is to restore us as prosper image bearers. God's purpose for us is to be made into the image of Jesus to reflect His beauty and His perfections.  Our moral failure isn't our last word. We are God's adorning jewels. 

How does it happen? God is at work in all of us if we are in Jesus. He is at work, changing our hearts. What confidence is it to know that God is at work in us? The point of our growth is to know that God goes to work on us at the level of our love. He shifts the things that we find beautiful and lovable. Jesus shapes us by His Spirit to make us love all the right things. This tells us that God will actually go to work on the things that we love. We are not the people we once were, this is because of God's Grace. The enemy of our souls will tell us we stink and that is exactly how we know what failure is. Shame will pound us down and in that moment we say "yes I've failed, but Jesus loves failures." He has promised to go to work in me and He will never stop making me more like Him. God is more concerned with our change than we are: that ought to deeply encourage you. Once Grace enters our life, He isn't content to leave us there. 

We don't just sit back hoping to be carried along by the Grace of God. Our sanctification involves us doing something too. We are meant to pursue that which is good, and live self controlled upright lives. Repent, Believe, Fight. Grace is God's doing from the inside out. He changes the very loves in our hearts. What God has worked in, we are called to work out. God gave His son for us and He won't waste that death by not making us like Him. 

We are in for a lifetime of sure change,
Courtney