In His House: Enjoying His Grace

Psalm 5: 7 "Because of your unfailing love, I can enter your house” (NLT).

If Jesus lived in your neighborhood would you feel comfortable walking over to His house and letting yourself in through the front door? And if you did go in, how would you act? Would you sit down next to Him on the couch and chat? Or would you roam around frantically trying to clean and straighten and serve in some way to prove to yourself and to Him that you deserve to be there? (Or perhaps more honestly, that you don't deserve to be there, so you will try to make up for your own unworthiness forever—for as long as He keeps allowing you back into His house).

I myself used to live this way. Consumed by my own unworthiness I esteemed the power of my unworthiness over the power of Gods' grace. I thought by never fully embracing the liberties of God's grace I was doing the respectful thing. In my fractured mind I thought that the most honorable thing to do was to not utilize the gift God had given me.

A lot of Christians think like this. We think fully accepting Gods' grace means abusing it. But isn’t it dishonoring and hurtful to a parent for a child to open a gift and then refuse to enjoy it?

It is not abusing God’s grace to enjoy our relationship with Him. That relationship, after all, is the very thing Jesus laid down His life for. It's the reason He subjected Himself to such pain and torment. He did that so He could have a relationship with us. So we could be treated as God’s dearly beloved children. So we could come close to Him, eat at His table, sit on His lap, lean against His chest, and let Him carry us close to His heart (Isaiah 40: 11).

Luke 22:29-30 a "And just as My Father has granted me a Kingdom, I now grant you the right to eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom" (NLT).

John I5:I5 "I no longer call you servants... Instead I have called you friends "(NIV).

John 1:12 "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God" (ESV).

Hebrews 4:16 "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most" (NLT).

Question: Do you find it easy to come to God—even when you struggle and make mistakes? Do you feel the peace to enjoy His presence and relate to Him as your Heavenly Father all the time? Or only when you feel like you’ve “been good enough”? If you struggle in this area, consider asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the reason to you, and begin the healing process. Hebrews 4:16 says we can come to Him and we will receive mercy when we need it most. “When we need it most” usually implies when we’re struggling the most. You can come to God with your struggles and faults. His grace is the only way we can find true victory over our sins. We need His help. We need His grace. We need our Heavenly Father. And He offers Himself to us freely as our Father because of Christ. Spend some time with Him today, pour out your heart and rest in His grace. Cling to the truth of His grace and enjoy the gift of His loving presence.