Grace for His Glory: #4 Designed by Grace (part 1)

We are designed by and through grace and for grace as much as we are designed for love and connection.

Our whole Christian faith revolves around grace. Jesus came and died and rose again because of grace and the infinite love He has for us. God is love and grace is an intricate part of love; it’s woven into it. The one can not happen without the other.

Eph 2:4-8
But God – so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, He HAD to save us. It is by Grace (His favour and mercy) that we are saved. And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together… He did this that He might clearly demonstrate the immeasurable riches of His free grace (unmerited favour) in His kindness and goodness of heart toward us.

If one of your children or someone you loved dearly was in danger, would you not do anything to save them? Because you love them, you cant NOT save them. And when you do, would you hold them close and sit with them?

Our commandment:
Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul and mind.
Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

So, if you haven’t realized it before, I’m a sucker for metaphors! Mainly because I think in pictures, like I’m sure a lot of you do too. So when this dawned on me that we are designed by and for grace, this whole picture of a blueprint for a mansion jumped into my head.

And it all starts with the Designer – the Designer Who IS Love. God is love and grace is the way He shows up in our lives, it is His love in action. Love is the source of grace and grace is the substance of life! Grace gives, sustains and enhances life!

It starts with God Who carefully designed you, dreamed about you and crafted an intricate and unique blueprint of you. Since you are daughter/son of a King, this is no iddy-biddy dilapidated old house plan either! From a blueprint comes creation – something that is build/developed with care, (some hammering too), but always according to design. He is very meticulous that it is built according to the specs He designed.

Ps 139: 13-17
"For you did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will confess and praise you for the wonder of my birth. Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret and intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with many colours] in the depths of the earth. How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts of me, O God!"

Could you enter this magnificent piece of architecture without its key? You could peek through the windows and marvel at it, but you could never inhabit it. Would you see the splendour without light? Would you know about the hidden treasures, the décor, the colours, the atmosphere divinely orchestrated, without light? You can feel your way, sure. You can imagine some things, but you would not be able to experience that what was created for joy. The joy of being in it and for sharing it with others.

So the obvious questions are: What is the key or where do you find it and what is the light?

Love is the heart of your Designer! Grace is the key that unlocks your design and illuminates every man

The key to your mansion is GRACE. The key to your full design, to living wholeheartedly and to fully enjoy the splendour of your design and of God’s love is to accept and embrace His grace.

Saving grace is the most powerful and precious gift God has for you. Forgiveness is setting free, unlocking and creating a way for light to enter. Jesus is the Light of the world that illumines every person (John 1:9).

But even more, asking and accepting God’s forgiveness also becomes the gift we give to ourselves and others. God’s forgiveness swings open the door and He wants to reveal the magnificence of you. And maybe you stand on the threshold not believing that you are worth it or deserve it, that it could not possibly be because of past hurts or actions done to you or by you. As you stand at this threshold, within the claws of guilt and shame, grace is the only thing powerful enough that can free you. Guilt and shame can only exist in secrecy and darkness. Those are devices the enemy use to keep you from living wholeheartedly, from stepping into the light. Forgiveness lights your soul and sets you free to step over the threshold.

Grace is forgiving. Grace is for giving – giving to yourself and to others, without merit. Asking for forgiveness takes a whole lot of courage; forgiving someone who has done you serious harm, even more so. Forgiveness is a choice (because, let’s face it, we won’t necessarily feel like it). But what if you look at it differently? What if you don’t HAVE TO forgive, but you GET TO forgive? It is a gift you give to yourself. It releases you from bondage – the bondage you have to someone or something and the power it has over you and that is keeping you from wholly entering into your splendour. It frees you up to give more of the treasure you hold inside, to discover more of the beauty and possibilities within you. When we get hurt, we often close our door to protect ourselves from future hurt. Even worse, when you close the door, you shut in the hurt, it has no where to go. It stays trapped inside. You also cannot selectively numb or keep out. There is no cat-trap. When you close your door to keep out hurt, disappointment & vulnerability, you also close the door to love, creativity, joy, etc. The only way to open the door is to use the key. Opening the door, is the only way you can let the light in. When we choose to forgive, it gives God the chance to do battle for us, instead of us fighting for us.