We're supposed to share Christ with Christians, too.

This article struck home for me...and probably will for some of you. 


"Sadly, at the moment the variances within the Church have a tendency to define her just as much as the areas of commonality."


http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/deeper-walk/blog/26828-criticizing-the-bride


1 John 4:11-12:

"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one

 another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another,

 God abides in us and His love is perfected in us."

We will always disagree.  We are imperfection and broken and so fallen, so in need of the Father.  We will never be in perfect peace on this earth, but we know that God is the same. 


Christ is bigger than our disagreements or varying viewpoints.  He has won the battle; He is victorious.  Let's be united around Him. 

GOODness GRACEious

There are no degrees of sin. Let me repeat…there are no degrees of sin.

Easy to say, hard to live…when grace is thrown in.  

As followers of the victorious, righteous God, we are called to (and we should, out of awe of His perfection) give grace to other people, as Christ has given grace to us. That is, He lavishes it on us.

“And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” (John 1:16)

It is not when He feels like it.

It is not because He had a great quiet time that morning and is “feeling” the Spirit.

It is not when it is easy for Him to give grace to us.

And it is not out of reluctance or duty.

It is out of love.

"Since He could bear your sins more easily than He could

 bear the thought of your hopelessness, He chose to leave." 

-Max Lucado, Out of the Carpentry Shop

He already forgave us.

…About stuff we did yesterday of which we did not repent, of my thoughts five minutes ago that we not God-glorifying, and of stuff I’ll do tomorrow.

And, by the way, He knows what I’m going to do tomorrow, and His grace is already laid out in which for me to dwell.

People are annoying, and mean, and spiteful, and rude, and hypocritical, and selfish, and ungrateful, and blind, and controlling, and ALWAYS look out for number one.

…and when I say people, I mean everybody.

But Christ, who is perfection and holiness, and deserves nothing but eternal praise, honor, adoration, and deep love, gives us grace before we displease Him.

*Gospel-centered living, enter here*

Because we have knowledge, and even better, acquisition of the Gospel, we live out of Christ and what He has done and continues to do FOR us (on and after the Cross), we let Him work IN us.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4)

Thus, we give grace that comes from HIM and not our selfish, stubborn, ungrateful selves.  It is GOD that produces goodness in us, not us producing goodness in us…all because of the Gospel.   

People are always going to get on your nerves.  They are always going to hurt your feelings and frustrate you.  We cannot love people and not offer them grace from the Father. If Christ is love, and Christ’s work is all about undeserved grace

…and it is

…then loving people is giving them the grace that they don’t deserve, just like you receive grace from Christ though you don’t deserve it.

My pastor at The Summit Church, JD Greear, said a few weeks ago:

“The way you desire righteousness is by dwelling on the God who gave you grace when you did not desire righteousness.”

And it is not easy. And I am preaching this to myself everyday, trust me. But love and life abundant are found only in the Father—let’s live in that.