Grace and Actions

Holy cow it's been awhile. Gonna try to be writing more.

This whole sophomore year has been a butt kicker as far as trials and temptations and just crud. But when I was looking over my past year, I couldn't help but feel so blessed to be part of the youth group I belong to at the Village.  Not just because of the people, who are AWESOME, but because of God's purely amazing and perfect timing.
Ever since last summer, my main struggle in my walk with Christ has been making my works my focus instead of God and His grace.  I just have a really hard time remembering that I'm NOT going to be perfect, but that God's got me covered by His grace.
How cool is it that this very issue would be the basis of almost every wednesday night home-group I go to? It seems like every single week we are getting it lovingly-pounded into us that our salvation is NOT based on our works-but on faith.
So that's what I want to talk about.
It just gets a little dicey for me when I think about grace/works/salvation...  Because I am so works based, and so goal oriented, and especially focused on pleasing others and God, the thought of letting anyone down, or failing them at all strikes a lot of fear and just sense of failure in me.
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free form the law of sin and death." Romans 8:1-2
Picture this. You're standing in court, in front of a jury and a judge. You've been accused of a crime in which the punishment is DEATH. No life prison, no chance for parole, none of that. And you know you're guilty. You know you DESERVE death, and everyone knows you're guilty. Just before the jury reads off the verdict, the judge sitting behind you waives you of all punishment, and takes your place.
But.God.
"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions..." Ephesians 2:4-5
When God says that there is no condemnation. He means that there is NO condemnation. I feel like today it is so easy for us to read the Bible and not truly take in what it's saying. No condemnation means that when God looks at us, He only sees what Christ accomplished on the cross. When God looks at us, He sees white. Think about all the mistakes you've made, and the stuff you've done. If you are a believer of Christ, God does not SEE that! Instead He gives us the Holy Spirit. The SAME God who conquered death lives in us, and we now have the ability to become more like and to be sanctified by this all powerful Lord!
But pause.
When the judge stepped in and took our sentence, did we DO anything to make the judge step in? No! God just LOOKED at us and loved us and pursued us and died for us because he wanted to KNOW us-the same sinners who drove the nails into Christ's wrists.
We did absolutely nothing to deserve salvation.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
Imagine how crazy you would seem if you received a pardon, an acquittal in that court...And you went out in the streets and said..
"Yeah, look at me! I saved myself from the death penalty! I did it all by myself!"
That's ridiculous. It was the JUDGE who did the saving...We have nothing to boast about.
But here's the thing.
What would your reaction be were you to be in the exact situation of hearing the judge wipe all charges away, and feel the handcuffs being taken off your wrist? Probably some shock for a little bit there..but what about after you went out living your life. Would you go out continuing to live the life you lived before, without even recognizing or remembering what the judge did? Or would you react to your acquittal?
"What good is it, my brothers and sisters if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? can such faith save them?" James 2:14
Okay..I feel like this verse is so easy to get tripped up, and the enemy can really use it to question salvation of followers of Christ. I know when I first came across this verse, I would always start sizing myself up, wondering if I had done enough works to back up my faith.
But I think that James is just honestly questioning what faith is with the absence of deeds.
Think about it. If we truly grasp what it means to be wiped away of all charges, to be truly free of condemnation, shouldn't there be a significant difference in the way we lived our lives before we were saved?
That's where I struggle though. Because I feel the need to be perfect, I can't grasp the fact that I'm going to mess up. Though I'm beginning to understand that God's grace isn't something that I'll ever fully be able to grasp, the Lord has been revealing to me that the more I fall in love with Him, the more I want to obey His commands..but also the more I am able to accept His saving grace. God commands us to not worry about anything. And that's including our future. While it is so important to live for the Lord, and to be sure and allow actions to back up our faith, we also have to understand that before anything, God's grace and what He did on the cross is what matters the most.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depths, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:37-39

Take the implications of that verse, and what it truly means, and go out and live your life in HOPE!

Hannah