Grace that is Greater

 

 Last night I was having a conversation with my brother in law. We were discussing upcoming events for our band. The conversation turned to the message of our music. The songs that we have been writing do not follow the pattern of the majority of today's Christian music. Our songs tell the story of our journeys....the gut wrenching truths of painful experiences and how in the midst of it all, because of grace, we still hold on to our faith.
  Phil made the statement that we have the tendency to believe that we are saved by grace, but fail to realize that we are also kept by that same grace. After we accept Christ, we fall into the mindset of having to prove our worth.... as if grace isn't enough. When hard times come, we think about what we did to deserve this instead of who we can lean on to preserve us.
  We mask our broken places thinking that nobody would ever understand. Afraid that if we are truthful about our hurts, our thoughts, our reactions.....we will be chastised, ridiculed, and told exactly what we should have done to prevent it....as if we aren't already beating ourselves up enough.  So we stress, strain, and labor in silence. We take every perceived failure to heart and convince ourselves that we will never be productive. Then we stop trying...."frightened that our best will only leave us reprimanded".
  We remember that we were in need of a Savior. But we must remind ourselves and each other that our need goes further than salvation. If we never going to experience lack, we wouldn't need Him to be our Provider. If we were never going to be broken, we wouldn't need Him to be our Healer. If we were never going to experience grief, we wouldn't need Him to be our Comforter. If we were never going to have doubts, we wouldn't need Him to be our Counselor. So the truth is...acknowledging our human weaknesses does not prove our unworthiness....it simply proves that we need Jesus.