I’ve had people ask me if Christians are allowed to sin and do whatever they want because they believe in salvation by grace alone. That always makes me laugh. Grace is not a get out of jail free card. As a Christian I know that I sin every day. And even when I sin, I am not free from the consequences of my sin even though I am forgiven. I also know, I have already been forgiven of my sins. So, I guess the question is, if I already know I am forgiven, then, why isn’t grace a get out of jail free card?
The real problem is that sin is everywhere. We as humans like to think that we are “good” people and that just living as a “good” person in the world is enough. As a Christian, I know I am not really a good person. I do things wrong every day. I even have days when I know I am living life not pleasing to God. But as I grow in my relationship with Christ, I become more accepting of myself and I focus more on Christ and try to be a better person.
As a Christian, I find the more I grow in my relationship with Christ the more I recognize when I am in sin. I am often more convicted when I feel my behavior and things I am doing are not pleasing to my God. The biggest difference from my life before Christ and my Christian life is that I know I am already forgiven.
Growing up I struggled so hard with feeling like I was enough. I felt the impossibility of living a life free from sin which led me to feeling very hopeless. I just wanted to be accepted and be enough. I often felt it was pointless to even try if I was never going to be enough anyway.
Micah Tyler has a song out right now called Different. The Chorus is
I wanna be different
I wanna be changed
‘Til all of me is gone
And all that remains
Is a fire so bright
The whole world can see
That there’s something different
So come and be different
In me
I think this is exactly how I feel as a Christian. I don’t feel that I am ever free to sin, but I sin every day. I want to be different. I want people to be able to see Christ in me!
I feel like when I became a Christian, and recognized I was saved by grace and it didn’t matter what I did, God would still love me. I felt hope again. Being saved by grace I have become a more willing participant in my life and the world around me (most days). I make more of an effort to live a life pleasing to God. I want to be different for Christ. I want people to see what He has done in my life and I want His light to reflect out of me. In most situations I try to do the right thing. I focus on being positive and trying to be a positive light to those around me. It took me a while to be able to say, “I am saved” and believe that I had truly accepted Christ into in my heart and would go to Heaven, but when I did I wanted to shout it from the roof tops and share the love and grace that I received from Christ with everyone.
As a human, I have a sin nature. I sin on a pretty regular basis. The nice thing about grace is, I know I am forgiven. There is nothing I can do ensure my forgiveness other than accept Christ as my Savior. But the best part of being a Christian saved by grace alone is at the end of the day I can say, “God, I tried today, I didn’t do too great. But thank you for loving me any way. I’ll try again tomorrow”. That’s the great thing about being saved by grace. So, as I Christian do I feel like I am free to sin? Absolutely not! But as a Christian am I grateful for the knowledge that no matter how bad I mess up in the day, and regardless of the consequences I face, I am forgiven? Absolutely YES!
I’m just a Small Town Girl…wanting to be different in a sinful world.
Just a Small Town Girl dot dot dot 