November 20 - 1 John 2: Endless Supply of Grace

"Father, the way I relate still falls so far short of the way You relate. And yet I believe I have Your Son's life in me. It gets discouraging. 

"[God speaking:] Discouragement, when it drives you to Me in broken confession rather than away from Me in wounded pride, brings the realism of humility. You are never without sin. Whether you recognize it or not, there is never a moment when you relate as perfectly as My Son. One day you will. Until then, humility will free you to live in awe of My endless supply of grace. And the worship that awe inspires will release more of My Son's life to flow out of you into others, even into those who have hurt you though never as badly as you have hurt Me [1 John 1:10, 2:1-12]" 66 LL

I've had some experiences recently in which my own pride has been all too evident. It's reared its ugly head in situations in which I felt dismissed, or unduly corrected, and yes, when confronted by another's outsized pride. It's amazing how quick I am to identify pride in others, but for too long, I have turned a blind eye to my own prideful ways.

Yet God is no longer allowing me to the luxury of minimizing my own sin of pride. Even though I yield to my flesh in this area far more often than I would like, the conviction of sin is strong. I'm discouraged by my failures. I desperately want the Lord to change me at the heart level.

The ugliness of my pride is stomach-churning, and God is allowing me to feel the sting of being on the receiving end of others' prideful comments. He's using the opportunity to show me how others have experienced my sinful pride. It's both mortifying and cleansing at the same time.

There's no doubt that this battle against my flesh will be a life-long one. But even as I'm discouraged by my sin of pride, I'm grateful for this realism of humility. I'm grateful that God has given me eyes to see my sinful pride. The truth is that, no matter how hard I try, I will never be without sin. It's only as God lives through me can I become more like Christ. It'll never happen in my flesh.

The more I see myself as I truly am, both in my flesh and in Christ, the more I can be free to live in awe of God's endless supply of grace. And as I'm daily learning, living in broken confession before my Father is a much freer place than running away from Him in wounded pride.

I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. (2:1) 

I remind you, my dear children,: Your sins are forgiven in Jesus' name. (2:12)

And now, children, stay with Christ. Live deeply in Christ. (2:28)