Trust & Grace

"My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body trusting in the Son of God, who loved and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20

In the book of Galatians, Paul is writing to the church there about living this new Christian life. You've got to understand something, until Jesus came, died, and rose again, God was not hands on with the Jewish people.

They had to sacrifice animals, they had a ton of rules (most of which they created), and the Priest was the main person who communicated with God.

The Gospel was a RADICAL change. It shook their belief system to the very core.

We are blessed that we have both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. We know who wins. We know the grace of God and how He thinks (to a point), because of the Word. They didn't have that. The Bible was written while they were living it.

In the next verse, Paul says, 22 "I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law made us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die."

Trusting God's grace is how we should be living.

Being FULLY surrendered to God, not just going through the motions, is how we can survive.

Bad things happen to good people on a daily basis. And even some of those bad things are done by other Christians. It sucks, but it's the truth.

In order for our lives to not be shattered by terrible events, we must be firmly planted on God's foundation. We must be fully surrendered and trust that His grace is sufficient for us. 

It's not about rules anymore. Oh and please know this... it is not God causing the bad things to happen. What loving God says, "Ok, Jill, I'm going to break your heart to turn to you to Me?" 

No one will EVER be able to convince me that our Heavenly Father works that way. He loves us. Period. He wants the best for us. He does not want to break us to make us follow or love Him. That's just a crazy thought to me.

Can He prevent things from happening? Sure! He's all knowing and all powerful. 

Does He have a plan for our lives? Without a doubt! And, every once in a while, something bad happens that He turns around for our good and we are able to see it on the other side.

Trusting in His love, grace, and mercy, will get us through the bad times. I know it has gotten me through all of mine.

I ask you this again, are you fully surrendered to God's will and what He wants for you life? I know that's difficult for some people. Especially people who like to be in control. It's hard to give up control to someone you can't physically see. But, look back at your life, see the good has He done? I know He's done a ton of good in my life and I will never stop trusting Him.

I hope you don't either.

God bless you today and always.