Today, a friend of mine asked me what the tattoo on my wrist meant.
It reads:
"Phil 1:6" which means "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day Christ Jesus returns."
I got this tattoo with the fulfilling thought and most importantly faith that before I was born, God started 'a good work' within me and now I am of this world, the good work He does in me shall be impacted into the world through what I do. To me this verse meant, I am a good person no matter what because God is working within me, so every time I backslide or do something that doesn't necessarily reaffirm my stance on being a good person, this verse is there to comfort me.
However, today when I went to church, the service blew me away. The preacher spoke on Grace and "requirements" we set ourselves as human beings to please God. Through this service did I fully grasp the idea of "Gods Grace" and saw a different vision to what my tattoo actually meant.
What I realised today was truth in all forms, so I can't help myself but to share it with you :)
I learnt that as human beings on this earth we tend to set certain standards for ourselves to be that perfect person. Christians especially do it the most when trying to be "PERFECT" for God. We have to realise that trying to be perfect for God in order for Him to love us is impossible. For instance, we tend to tell ourselves things like If I read my bible more, go to church every Sunday, be more forgiving etc then automatically God will love me and forgive me for every sinful thing.
But you know the craziest thing about God? He doesn't think like us
(Isaiah 55:8- For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways"). God doesn't accept us because of what we DO or NOT do. His acceptance is based on this thing we hear so much about called "GRACE"
"GRACE" from what I understand is God loving us unconditionally, not because of us being good, it is love coming from a place where we qualify as unmerited beings, but God still accepts us. I read a scripture today which blew me away. It reads "We are all infected and impure with sin when we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags...
" Isaiah 64:6 Did you get that?
This means that even when we DO good, because we are naturally sinful human beings the good that we do is nothing but as filthy as a rag to God.
Therefore, to me this means if my good is not as good as I think because of the sinful nature within, then Gods love and acceptance for each of us cannot be based on who does the most good, or who goes to church more or who reads the bible scriptures more etc. Gods love and acceptance is not by us being perfect for Him and setting all these "be good tasks" that we end up failing anyway, but He simply ACCEPTS and LOVES you and I because of this GRACE that the bible talks about.
Today I understood Grace as unmerited and unearned love that God has for us. It is not what I do or what you do, that makes God love us. He just does and accepts us. Mind blowing I tell you..
So my revelation with my tattoo is that it indicates Gods GRACE. "The good work God began within me will go on till Christ returns" I have already admitted you and I cannot be perfect and constantly be good people till Christ comes, it is not in our nature.
(Jeremiah 17:9- The human heart is the most decietful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is).
Therefore this good work within me till Christ returns is what I call GRACE.
We find favour with God by HIM sending us Grace not by what we do to PROVE that we are good. It is impossible to be good all the time, we just have to ACCEPT that GOD ALREADY ACCEPTS us and live by that. From there all will follow and we find ourselves living life NATURALLY according to Gods will, NOT by our " be good to do list to get to heaven" that doesn't work
Ephesians 2: 9- "Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it"
Happy Sunday!
Be renewed in your mind&Stay Blessed,
Zephia
