If there’s one thing I’ve realized in life, it’s that we can never ask God for too much grace. And we all need it—every day, for everything we need to do in life. Because God loves us so much, He gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins so we can receive His grace, both for our salvation and then to help us walk out our life in Christ with His power.
It’s so wonderful to realize that God’s amazing grace is available to everyone, no matter who you are or what you’ve done. God has good plans for every person who accepts Christ as their Savior, and He wants us to have the abundant life Jesus died to give us. The key to this great life is living in God’s great grace.
Grace is from the Great Equalizer. It’s so important for us to understand that God’s grace is available to every person on this Earth, in whatever capacity they need it. There is no one who is beyond God’s reach or His ability to save and restore their life. I know sometimes we can feel like we’ve done too much wrong and we need to earn God’s forgiveness and grace, but His grace is a gift—we can’t earn or deserve it. And no one is such a “special case” that He cannot help them.
We look at others’ lives, and it may look like they have it all together. People want others to know how “good” they are, so many will pretend everything is OK in order to impress someone. But the outward appearance doesn’t always tell the real story. We may see people’s outward success, but can’t see the inner turmoil they’re experiencing, or that they have no real peace or joy in life.
I believe this is a common problem for many people and the reason there is so much strife in the world today. Strife in our hearts causes us to compare ourselves with others and compete with them, trying to make ourselves “better” than them. It makes people frustrated and confused, struggling with so many issues in their lives because they are trying to figure everything out and solve their problems on their own.
But John 15:5 says that apart from Jesus, “[cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing” (AMP). All we have to do is humble ourselves before God and ask Him to help us.
We have not because we ask not. James 4:1-3 explains in detail why so many people are frustrated, confused and living in strife. Verses 2-3 say, “You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure” (NLT).
We all have things on our “wish lists,” things we want or need or would just like to have. And when we see someone else with something we want, it can stir up some strong emotions. We can become envious and begin to covet that thing.
I remember years ago, I wanted to be like my pastor’s wife. She was such a sweet woman of God, so kind and soft-spoken and people really loved her. I, on the other hand, was just so outspoken and sharp with my tongue. I wanted to be quiet and sweet like her, so I tried but it didn’t work. At one point, people even started asking what was wrong with me!
