What do you think? Does God care what you do on your free time? Are there consequences for your actions? We would like to think that our body, soul, and mind are ours to do what we please. But the Bible tells us differently.

If we claim that we’re free of sin, we’re only fooling ourselves. A claim like that is errant nonsense. On the other hand, if we admit our sins—make a clean breast of them—he won’t let us down; he’ll be true to himself. He’ll forgive our sins and purge us of all wrongdoing. If we claim that we’ve never sinned, we out-and-out contradict God—make a liar out of him. A claim like that only shows off our ignorance of God. (1 John 1:8-10, MSG)

God sees everything. God knows everything. And we can’t get away from the fact that we need to be redeemed and restored. But help is available. With the words of Kurt Bubna “It’s who God is. It’s what he does best. He longs to redeem and restore. It’s his specialty.”

Why do we then keep away from God? Why do we sell out so easily and for something so temporary? Why do we lose sight of the big picture for a temporary pleasure, whether it’s sex, chocolate, pornography, shopping or any other addiction?

Because we are sinners. But that’s not the end of the story. Kurt writes in his new book  Epic Grace, Chronicles of Recovering Idiot “Epic grace is freely available for everyone. It’s bigger than we can possibly imagine, better than we deserve, and strong enough to beautifully transform our broken lives into trophies of God’s grace. So embrace it and run to the throne of mercy. It is never too late. You are never too far from God.”

And this epic grace is not “just” to redeem us. It is there to empower us to not to sin, to do good works that God has planned and prepared in advance for us to do.

Kurt assures  “God has big plans for you and me. In fact, they are so big and amazing that, without the help of God’s Spirit, our pea-size brains can’t even begin to picture what they look like.” “But”, Kurt continues “Our sin short-circuits his plans for us”. Ouch.

That’s why we constantly need grace. That’s why we need to stay close to Jesus. Because, like Kurt says, “it is hard to discover and experience our God-given purpose when we are buried under a ton of self-imposed junk.”

Abundant life is available. But only through Christ Jesus. We can learn to say no to sin and yes to God. Day by day. By God’s epic grace.

 

Gracious God,
Forgive us for forgetting you too easily,
not valuing you enough.
Embrace us with your redeeming and restoring grace.
And pour out grace upon grace on us to
empower us to live joyfully free in your grace.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Have you learned to say yes to God daily?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you embrace God’s grace every day of your life! God is GOOD!

Image courtesy of Kevin Carden. Linking up today with Wisdom Wednesday, Unite the Bloggersphere and #tellhisstory.

This post is part of #EpicGraceWednesdays. I am blogging through Kurt Bubna’s Epic Grace. Join me every Wednesday!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review (or any review for that matter). The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”