embrace grace...divorce yourself from law

Today the sermon Pastor Steve gave at church was amazing and challenging all at once. We've been going through the book of Hebrews and the series is called Jesus Is Better.  Today was called Jesus Is Better: the better Moses. 

Though I've been a Christian since I was 10 years old, sometimes I still struggle with truly accepting and understanding God's grace. I still feel unworthy of accepting it. I have such a guilty conscious, so when I sin, and I know I've sinned, sometimes I feel as though I need to be more religious and make up for what I've done, rather than just repenting and accepting God's grace. I never want to feel as though I am taking advantage of His grace. There needs to always be a good balance of being broken because of your sin, but still accepting His grace. That's exactly what the sermon was about today.

Moses was sent to prepare the hearts of the Israelites before Jesus came. Hebrews 3:3 says, "For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses- as much glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself." WE are the house!  So when Moses was sent to bring the Israelites the Law (10 commandments), they were already building an idol!! So why would God send Moses to set up a Law (a religious system) when He knew it would rise against the gospel? He knew they were going to build that idol before he even presented them with a set of rules to live by. He did this so we would be humbled and so He could prepare our hearts to love Christ!  The Israelites made an idol before the ink on the contract wasn't even dry! They had absolutely NO hope of obeying. God knew their misbehavior was in their unhealthy hearts. The Mosaic Law showed them they are completely broken...just what we needed to be fully dependent on Christ.

The part that is easy to do with the Law is when we feel like we are doing awesome by keeping the Law, we judge others and want to close off the world to grace, which ultimately leads to self-righteousness.  We begin to act like we no longer NEED Christ and His GRACE!  This is what I was talking about when I stated above about being more religious rather than accepting God's grace. When we sin, we need to run to GRACE, NOT shame. We try to do more good deeds (whether we realize it or not) so we can earn our way back into a good relationship with God. If we had to work hard and do good deeds to rid ourselves of sin, we would never be accepted by Christ...life would be stressful and we would never feel able to fulfill our duty.  We sin way too much even for a lifetime to work our way into heaven. We need to ACCEPT God's grace and know the Law came to break us of self-sufficiency and pride! It's so much more freeing.

When our hearts are broken by grace and not self-effort, this is when God is able to work through us and allow us to grow closer to Him. We rely on Him and not ourselves. We compare ourselves to His standards and not to the world's.

Hebrews 8:10-12 says, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

HE'S DONE IT FOR US!!! WE NO LONGER HAVE TO BE IN CHAINS...WE CAN LIVE IN FREEDOM BECAUSE OF CHRIST'S LOVE, OBEDIENCE, AND WILLINGNESS TO GO TO THE CROSS AND BEAR ALL OF OUR SINS FOR US!! HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS, BUT HE KNEW THERE WAS NO OTHER WAY FOR US TO BE ABLE TO SPEND ETERNITY WITH HIM WITHOUT THIS HAPPENING. A PERFECT BEING HUNG ON THE CROSS FOR IMPERFECT PEOPLE. AMAZING LOVE, HOW CAN THIS BE? This is how much our Heavenly Father loves us. Embrace grace; divorce yourself from the Law.

pros and cons of growing up...

There are so many great things about growing up, but there are a lot of lame things as well. I am excited to be somewhat grown up so I can get married this summer, I don't live with my parents anymore, I make my own decisions, I make real money as opposed to $100 paychecks, I am legal for most things besides renting a car (age 25), I get to start my own family soon and have my own house to decorate, I have learned how to cook, I get to use a credit card, we aren't forced to eat certain food (veggies), etc.

I think there may be more negatives to growing up. More responsibilities naturally come..boo!! We have to pay bills, clean our house, make sooooooo many decisions, work EVERYDAY, no spring break, no summers off (unless you're a teacher), no more using parents money, paying for the unexpected (car dies completely), etc.

If I had to choose to be 10 years old all my life or 23 all my life, I would definitely still want to be 23 even though there are so many more responsibilities. The best thing to me about growing up is being able to get married to the most wonderful and handsome man in the world and being with him for the rest of my life:) Thank you Jesus for marriage.

Ugly Babies

For some reason, I have always been nervous that one day my baby will be so ugly. People say that when it is your baby, no matter what, you will not think that baby is ugly. I completely disagree. I think I will know if my baby is ugly, I will admit it, and I will pray that baby will not grow up to be hideous. Of course if my baby is ugly I will love that child regardless because God will have blessed me with a child, but I won't lie and say I think my baby is the most beautiful baby in the world. Babies are usually pretty ugly as newborns anyways, so there is still hope right after they are born. As they get a little older and they are still pretty ugly, that's when I would be nervous. Good thing I don't have to worry about that for a long time:)


Sumo baby? Actually kind of cute.


crazy looking baby!


scariest of all.