One of the things God has been stirring in me lately is a desire to be vulnerable. To take the risk of loving others and being real no matter how I am perceived or treated.
The opposite of love is fear. (Fear can lead to additional opposites, such as hatred, but complex emotions such as hatred come from a source… like fear.) And when I am afraid to let others see past the polished surface of my life into the messy workings of learning to walk daily with God, of learning through the stumbles of awkward circumstances, I miss opportunities to love.
photo credits to Lauren Sapp
An Unchanging Covering of Grace
I am redeemed. God in His great mercy and kindness has stepped into the midst of my reeking, sinful self and paid the full price of redemption. He laid my serpentine rebellion on His holy shoulders… and laid His robe of righteousness on my once-filthy ones. He took my place, and He has brought me into His place of security and peace and holiness. I am freed and alive.
No matter how I stumble as I seek to walk by His Spirit, His covering of grace never leaves me. He has chosen me, and I have chosen Him. My faith rests in His righteous covering, not my acts of goodness. That is my unchanging covering of grace - His holiness draped over me in love so that He only sees a pure-white bride.
“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
Hebrews 8:12
This is the reality of every believer in Christ, no matter your past. Christ covers every sin… every single moment that the enemy wants you to believe is too big for the power of our Almighty, All-Powerful Eternal God.
courtesy of freeimages.com
An Ongoing Work of Grace
This is where the vulnerability comes in. Because, beneath that beautiful covering of grace, God is doing a complete remodel in selfish, ol’ me. I know who I am in Christ. But I also know the heart of sin that dwells in me apart from Christ.
Ongoing redemption isn’t always pretty. It isn’t easy. It isn’t… clean.
But it is wrong of me to pretend that I have it all together when, in truth, anything resembling beauty and life within my life is the work of my God!
Secure in the love and hand of my God, I can allow others to see Him at work in me. He’s breaking down old patterns. Destroying crippling fear. Humbling a proud spirit. Opening a heart that I had walled-in for self-protection.
“But by the grace of God I am what I am:
and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain;
but I laboured… yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me.”
1 Cor. 15:10
“And he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee:
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.’
Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
2 Cor. 12:9
Because God pours His perfect love into me (Rom. 5:5), I am free to love fearlessly. That includes vulnerable love. His love casts out fear, because God's love is stronger than my fear (1 John. 4:18).
I want you to see how perfectly His grace pursues and builds an imperfect human, even if it means being uncomfortably vulnerable. Because He is worthy of praise for His marvelous works.
