Being Gracious with Yourself

 Being Gracious with Yourself

Hey sister girl! I hope that you've been well. I know that it's been a while since I last blogged. After the Holliday's, it's taken me a minute to get back into the grove of things. 

That actually brings me to the topic of today's blog post. Gracing yourself. 

Grace is such a hard concept for me to grasp because it just doesn't make sense. If you do wrong, you deserve wrong. Right? Well according to the Bible, this is true, but God is in the business of forgiveness and of grace. 

Jesus took on our sins by taking the punishment that we deserve. How can this be applied to my life practically? Well, first I'll share a little bit of my struggle with you when it comes to perfectionism.

Throughout my day to day, I find myself worrying about each little movement that I make. 

Ugh, I woke up late again, I'm a failure.

I'm rushing out of the door for work again, I'll never get it together.

I failed at engaging with the students at work today. I'm a horrible person.

I slept after work instead of writing. I'm so disobedient and God is upset with me.

The very first thing that I want to point out here is the word that every single one of these sentences started out with, "I." The focus is solely on me. 

The word "solely" can be described as, "not involving anyone or anything else". Having this definition in mind is important because it can show us where our gaze is.

Hebrews 12:2 tells us that we are to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. 

What really astounds me is the chapter right before - Hebrews 11:1 - where it says, "Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. This verse blows my mind when I think about having faith about trusting in God's grace. I have to ask myself daily, am I going to believe in the promise of my redemption through Jesus Christ? Or in the lie that my works equate to my standing with God?

This reminds me of Galatians 3:3 where it says, "after beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?" 

Sister, you did not work your way to God, He saved you by His grace and through faith so that we know that it's God's doing and not our own (Ephesians 2:8).

The thing about perfectionism is that it can cause us to take our eyes off of Jesus and place them onto ourselves. However, as someone who struggles with perfectionism, it can be easy to take Hebrews 12:2 and Hebrews 11:1 and read it through a filter of condemnation rather than one of hope and love. 

What if I told you that those two verses are invitations into restoration?

Jesus' sacrifice gives us the grace to be imperfect in the small things of everyday life. God's love through His sacrifice is greater than our imperfection. His grace is sufficient. 

This is what I'm getting at:

You don't have to go through life walking on egg shells before God. It's not about what we do, but about what Jesus did. When we decide to trust in God's unconditional love, we will begin to be able to walk in freedom from perfectionism. 

It's hard to come to terms with but eventually, we have to trust in God's sacrifice and love more than our mess ups because sis, it's not about you. It's not about me. It's not about our imperfection. But it's about who God is and what He did.

Perfectionism misses the whole entire point of the Gospel. The fact that it's not about us, liberates us to walk in freedom and to enjoy our relationship with God. 

So sis, I want you to leave this post knowing this, God loves you exactly where you are and how you are. Breathe. It's okay. 

No, God does not leave sin unpunished. He's a just and righteous God and He calls us to holiness because He is holy. But He's also a merciful and gracious God and He knows that we're not perfect. Which is why He decided to punish your sin through His son Jesus so that you don't have to pay the punishment of your sins. 

God calls us to holy living, but it's only by His grace that we're able to live in such a way. This is why perfectionism is dangerous, it keeps our focus on ourselves rather than trusting in Christ's sacrifice.

Trust in His love. Rely on His grace. When you take your eyes off of your failures and short comings and place them onto Jesus, you'll naturally begin to be more like Him. 

 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither things present (failures and imperfections), nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:38-39

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received a spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father!" - Romans 8:15

You are not your successes and failures. You are a child of God.

As always so much love,

Rickari