Choosing Grace in our Relationships

Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. (Col 3:13 NIV)
To choose grace, you must walk in complete forgiveness.

What does this mean?

It means firstly to receive the full depth of God's forgiveness. Day-to-day, God does not want you to be conscious of your sin. This means you choose not to try to spur yourself on to better behaviour and performance by keeping a record of your own failures. It means you do not judge yourself as inadequate or weak in God.

Our sin entails everything which falls short of God's desires and designs, past, present and future. So God does not want us conscious of these things in a guilty, defeated, self-loathing way.

We may have failed morally, financially, spiritually, relationally. God does not want us conscious of it however. We can at any time decide to enter into the higher life of the Spirit, where the Blood is continually offered for our sins, shortcomings and failures.

It means a clear conscience before God in all things. God calls us to live in this manner. We are not to beat ourselves up in a vain attempt at getting better performance out of ourselves.

There is the spirit of Law and there is the Law of the Spirit. The first is graceless and without mercy. Everyone is scrutinised and measured, judged wanting. The second is full of grace and mercy. Do not hold a constant measuring stick to yourself.

I pray that you will enter into this place of rest, of giving yourself a break. You cannot delight fully in the Lord unless you do! The very presence of Jesus caused people to enter into sweet inner rest, see Luke 10v38-. Unless they were inwardly under Law, driven to achieve and out-achieve others.

Only when you have drunk deeply from the wells of salvation in this way will you be in a position to truly forgive others, even if you have already  decided in principle that you need to.