People are constantly trying to justify themselves.  We justify our actions and words to our parents, spouses, children, co-workers and friends.  We even try to justify our words and actions to God.  We seem to believe that if we clean up our words and actions… if we help others, give money to those in need, and volunteer at church… we’ll somehow be able to earn God’s grace.  Earn grace?  Well, that’s not possible!  By definition, grace is “the free and unmerited favor of God.”[1]  Unmerited means “not deserved.”  If grace is a free gift given to us by God, although we do not deserve it, then we simply cannot earn grace.  I think this makes many of us uncomfortable because it means we have to trust God and acknowledge that it is God, not us, who is in control.  Or, perhaps, you think this somehow cheapens grace.  Grace is by no means cheap, and although we are freely given God’s grace.  As Americans, we are all given freedom, but the cost of freedom was high for some.  So, too, the cost of grace was high for Jesus.

Individual sins you have can be forgiven, but as Moltmann says, “The sinner I am has to be accepted and born again.”[2] In other words, we need to ask for forgiveness for our wrongdoings, but there is something even greater than our moment to moment actions to keep in mind.  If we focus on our morality and actions, we may miss the bigger picture- our relationship with God. “Sin” in the singular sense can be thought of as our tendency to stray away from God—our estranged relationship with God.  Just as we may have an estranged relationship with a friend or family member, we also are estranged from God.  This estrangement is demonstrated in our tendency to “play” God and try to work our way into heaven, acting as though we can fix things on our own and don’t need God at all.  Inevitably, though, something happens in each of our lives, reminding us of our need for God.  

God is a God of relationships and reconciliation.  God has claimed us in our baptisms as God’s beloved children.  We are reborn into God’s family and made new.  We are justified through grace—that is, God accepts us as God’s beloved child.  Not because of anything we’ve done, but because of who God is. It is this acceptance that makes us just, not anything we do or don’t do. So, instead of focusing on ourselves, our sins and our goodness, focus instead on the goodness of God and God’s acceptance.  We are justified by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8)

Read II Kings 5:1-14, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Annie
Today’s Reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%205:1-14

[1] Google dictionary

[2] Jürgen Moltmann, The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 135.