Grace that Bridges the Gap

It seems we’ve only just begun the year 2022, and yet here is February, staring us down in the face! And despite the speed at which the weeks are flying by, my year has gotten off to a slow start. The plans I had for January were not to be. When you spend a couple of weeks sick in bed, the best laid plans just seem to shrivel up and die.

Many of us like to set yearly goals at the beginning of a new year. I don’t call them new years resolutions, I prefer just to call them goals.

A resolution is a firm decision to do or not do something. It’s a commitment and intention to see something through. It is meant to be immoveable and resolute. On the other hand, a goal has the idea of an ambition or desire to see a particular result. Using effort to achieve the goal you’ve set. It seems to me, not to be so set in concrete.

Okay, so this really doesn’t matter and yes, they’re pretty similar, but I know my failings, and being a realist, and slightly pessimistic, I know that if I call it a goal, I have more of an out, than if I call it a resolution.

So, where am I going with all this? Stay with me, I’ll get there eventually. (things are still a little foggy in my brain).

Each year, I try and sit down, with notebook in hand, and write down what I hope will be some achievable goals for the year ahead. Often, they have to do with reading and studying and writing, but I also like to try and set goals that have to do with healthy eating, or weight loss, or a project I’d like to see finished or even started.

This year, I found a lovely little template that divided goals up into sections that just made sense for me and even had a place to write in things you’d like to do less of. We can all think of time wasters that would fit in that category.

Anyway, I want to share with you a little acrostic that I came across recently in a short devotional I was reading.

Firstly, let me share a beautiful verse with you.

Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

When we set our goals, we often feel that God expects perfection of us. We continually fail to live up to God’s standards and we find ourselves struggling to keep up with the ‘perfect’ image we think we need to have. We put undue pressure upon ourselves as we fight to attain our unrealistic expectations, thinking that that is what God wants from us.

But did you know, that because of Christ, you don’t have to be perfect? Yes, we need to strive to do our best and grow more and more like Christ each day, but God knows our frailties and our failings. He knows our hearts and the struggles we face, as we are not perfect, and never will be. There is only one perfect being in the whole of creation, and that is the Lord himself.

Now, I would not call myself a perfectionist, but I do have certain perfectionist tendencies in many areas. And it’s not a bad thing to be a little persnickety in some things. But trying to achieve perfection in every area of our lives is frankly, exhausting!

We read of the apostle Paul’s frustration in fighting his flesh in the book of Romans.

Romans 7:15, 18-19  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. ... For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Anyone relate? Yes, me too.

So, in going back to the verse I mentioned first.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Do you see how in this verse we are told that as believers, we are Christ’s workmanship?

The word that is translated as workmanship is the Greek word, poi-ema, it’s where we get our English word poem from. It literally means, a thing that is made.

“You are God's poem, his beautiful and thoughtful self- expression. His masterpiece. He made you from an overflow of his creative joy as his workmanship. You bear his unique stamp and signature. Just as a poem points back to its author, we point back to ours.”

You know, most days, I don’t feel like a masterpiece at all. I don’t feel much like a beautiful and thoughtful expression. I fail and I flounder, I doubt, and I fall down. But God calls me to be his workmanship, his masterpiece. He has a purpose for me and a plan for my life. And although I struggle daily with the fight that wars in my flesh and my desires that continually pull me in every direction, and the ongoing battle of trying to be all, do all, get it all right, have it just so, colour in between the lines, tick all the right boxes, I don’t have to beat myself up, knowing my imperfections. No. There’s this beautiful thing called grace.

The most commonly known definition for grace is the unmerited favour of God. It’s that precious free gift that God bestows upon us, not because we deserve it, not even because we’ve earned it, but because of his great love for us. To fully understand grace, and I’m not sure we ever will, we have to consider who we were without Christ and who we have now become with Christ.

We were undeserving sinners on our way to hell, when God in his goodness, reached down and extended his favour to us. He paved a way for us to come to him, through his death on the cross. And there, justice met grace. An unlikely pair, brought together through love.

And this brings me back to the subject of our perfectionism, our goals and our failings.

Grace is what bridges the gap.

I came across this little acrostic using the word Grace and I want to share it with you in the hopes that you will be encouraged, and you will realise that you are not a mistake. You are not defined by your failures.

God gives grace, abundant grace and sometimes, you just need to give yourself a break and remember you are his workmanship, you are being continually changed and molded and made more like him, as you yield yourself to him.

G – GIVE YOURSELF A MOMENT – We are all human and we all fail and things don’t go as planned. But when things go wrong, as they will, then stop, and give yourself a moment to catch your breath, then when God is ready, move forward. His timing and his plans.

R – REMEMBER GOD LOVES YOU – We are not a masterpiece because of anything we’ve done, it’s all because of God’s love. God is rich in mercy and love and his love is unconditional. Don’t forget his love for you.

A – ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT DIDN’T GO WELL – Mistakes will happen, and failures will come, but it doesn’t mean that you are a mistake. Don’t let your failures define you. Don’t let them stop you in your tracks. Learn from them and move on. Let them make you stronger.

C – CELEBRATE WHAT DID GO WELL – We tend to focus on the negative and what we did wrong, but how about taking encouragement from what went right! We often give Peter a hard time because of his lack of faith in sinking in the water, but what about the fact that he was the only one that could say he actually walked on water? He stepped out in faith and walked a few faltering steps before becoming afraid. Celebrate the blessings and the achievements.

E – ENCOURAGE YOURSELF – Often times we are quick to encourage others as we fulfil the command of loving our neighbour and loving our brethren. When they mess up, we encourage them with promises from scripture, we help them up and walk beside them, speaking words of wisdom and reassuring them of God’s love, but we fail to encourage ourselves in the same way. We’re a lot harder on ourselves and we beat ourselves up, thinking thoughts that are not uplifting and don’t encourage at all. If we can treat others in a loving way and we can help others when they’ve fallen, why can’t we do the same for ourselves? Tell yourself the same words of encouragement you tell them. If it’s true for them, it’s true for you too!

Now, I know I’ve not even scratched the surface of understanding grace, but I want you to have the confidence that God knows you through and through and yet he loves you more than you will ever comprehend.  

Things may not go as planned and those new year goals you set may not go as smoothly as you hoped, you will fail and you will fall, but God is with you and he doesn’t expect you to be perfect, he just expects you to give it your all.

You are his masterpiece, and he has a purpose for you! 

Live in the light of God’s abundant grace!

Romans 5:20b-21 …... But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.