Have you ever felt like maybe some people might think you obsess over grace? Haha, I know I do! I'm a grace addict! I can't get enough of God's grace and love for me! I can't get enough of thinking of my glorious Jesus and all He has done for me! I can't get enough of the glad good news that seems too good to be true, but actually IS true! Grace is what keeps me from going spiritually crazy! His unconditional love and acceptance of me are what make me get up in the morning and face the new day! His wonderful presence within me, and the way the dear Holy Spirit delights in me and fellowships with me, even right after I have a slip into sin, is like water in the desert to me, it's so precious and valuable! Wow, grace is just sooo good and HE is sooo good!
(I know that's a lot of exclamation points in that paragraph, but I just get excited talking about His grace, because He has brought me out of such depression and fear and anxiety in recent times, all through a fresh revelation of His grace...so I just really need to use those exclamation points, and I hope it's okay!)
But anyway, I'm getting carried away here and need to get back to my question: Is it okay to just major on grace and make that the main thing I think of, ponder on, and fill my mind with? I think so! I think it is not only okay but essential to focus on Jesus' work and His grace! For that is the gospel! And just focusing on the main thing, the good news of the gospel of grace, causes everything else to fall into place spiritually for us. Thinking about Him and His grace just fills me up, makes me happy, causes faith and trust to rise up in me, puts my focus on Jesus and not me, puts my focus on His ability and not my inability, puts my focus on His provision and not my lack, puts my focus on His answers and not my problems. It causes me to praise and worship! It makes me feel bold and free! It makes me remember I have Christ's authority over the devil and that this enemy is totally defeated and can't touch me! It makes me want to go love somebody or pray for them or bless them! It makes me nice to my kids and my husband! It makes me feel all is well! It makes me patient and understanding! It even makes me sleep well and not feel worried or fearful..
That's what grace does! It's like just thinking of Him and His love and grace, and what the finished work of Jesus has really done - made me righteous (seen as sinless by God!), acceptable, new, pure, good-hearted, strong in the Lord, included, secure, whole and holy - just releases the glory of heaven in my life! Thinking with the Lord about His grace just fills me with the Spirit and His joy and peace and love! It just fills me with joy over Jesus and makes everything seem to flow in my life, makes everything make sense again. This is the only thing that has ever really made a difference in my Christian life or brought about holy living in any way! And it's a great by-product of just being caught up in His love and grace!
So to me, to focus on holy living never works to produce holy living! But focusing on the unconditional love and acceptance of Jesus and all He has done for me just fills me up, satisfies my deepest longings for love and understanding, floods me with His invigorating life being manifested, and then as a side benefit, produces holy living!
I love how He has set it up in the Christian life, making things easy..not burdensome..We get to just feast on grace and on Jesus' love and work, having our love needs just met in abundance, and everything else - good attitudes, the fruit of the Spirit, ministry, etc., just flows from that!
