Faith Filled Friday & Grace Upon Grace

Have you read my devotional that takes you through Judges? Well, if not, here's an exerpt from it. You canread more about it (and what others think) here.

"Then Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them.With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men." When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi. Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi. Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines." Judges 15:16-20 

I am blown away by the graciousness of God! Check out Samson's attitude. "With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkey's of them." but then when he gets thirsty suddenly it's God's doing. "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" Blame-shifting, but aren't we all prone to it. And don't we sound like donkey's when we boast in our own strength as if we can do anything of eternal value apart from the enablement of the Holy spirit. 

Yet God, right smack in the middle of Samson's blaming Him attitude, does the miraculous and makes water start flowing from a hollow place. Wow! It's like spitting in God's face and yet He stoops down to wash your feet. Grace! Truly God's love is not dependant on our perfection. Truly we can't earn God's love. He will always do what's in our best interest, whether we deserve it or not. "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matt 5:45 God is in the business of showing grace even when we don't deserve it. 

And what is in our best interest? Sometime it means letting us fail and giving us discipline to correct us. And sometimes it will mean giving success when we don't deserve it. He will always do what is best for our development and growth, just as we would do for our belovedchildren. Even when it hurts, even when they don't deserve it. 

His love for us is not based on our performance. Because after all we can't live the perfect Christian life apart from Him anyway. "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" Gal. 3:3  The law exists to show us our desperate need for Jesus and drive us to our knees in dependence, relying on His strength and ability rather than our own. What a gracious God who drives even the strongest to their knees just like Samson in surrender.

God's love for us is based on the reality that we are His, His handiwork, not based on anything we do or don't do. And instead of thinking, if someone really believed that would they go out and sin and do whatever they wanted, the reality is that being loved unconditionally drives us to love more not less. So let's embrace what's true about us for it will drive us to adore the Lord even more.

We exist to glorify God, to display His heart and character. And I just love how we are all uniquely built to do that. So every Friday I want to give you, uniquely designed by God, an opportunity to link up your thoughts on God, art, baking, photography, parenting, marriage, homeschooling, writing or blogging and more if they tie into or display the Lord somehow. 

So go ahead and link up below by clicking the link below and following the prompts.
Please just let your readers know by including a link at the bottom of your post (or somewhere on your side bar) or put my button code (found below and on the side bar) so they can find these other great people glorifying God and we can continue to grow as
a community. Thanks! 

And in effort to encourage others in their writing by faith, please take a minute to comment on another sweet lady's post.