November #jammed: Gracious.

Day 310: Thankful for memories …

“ So let’s get this clear: it’s for My own sake that I save you.
I am He who wipes the slate clean and erases your wrongdoing.
I will not call to mind your sins anymore.” Isaiah 43:25 (VOICE)

I’m continually eluded by the iCloud. Each new device comes with a clean slate. Thousands of pictures eventually accumulate, prompting the message to buy more space on the cloud to save all of my pictures. I don’t want them all saved. For every ten I take, nine are deleted. It seems a big waste of technological space and energy to save things automatically that I don’t want to remember.

Today’s verse is an awesome reminder that God is not hanging over our heads what we wish to delete. You know, those people we were in a past life that made terrible decisions and horrible mistakes …said incredibly rude things that flush our cheeks just recalling them in our memories? The missteps of overindulgence and bad relationships. Failures and faults …and things that we still cannot seem to shake.

He’s not focused on them. He’s focused on us. And God says to all the ugliness that we drag through this life …“that’s not who you are.”

Just as He was eager to restore Israel, His chosen people, in the Old Testament, so He delights to restore us. To welcome us home, as Jesus’ tells in the story of the Prodigal Son. To forgive us and welcome us back into His presence. That’s what the cross was for. That’s why Jesus is so important. It’s through Him that we are able to be in the presence of God. To pray to Him, be enlightened and guided by His Word, and restored to who we are meant to be. His will for our lives relieves us from feeling like there’s something we’re missing …

We begin the journey to our true selves when we start to follow Christ. It costs nothing, but takes great faith. When we confess our sins God forgives us …when we believe that’s what His Son died for. That’s who we are. His.

Father, Praise You for Jesus’ death on the cross, which brings so many Old Testament scriptures to life. You love us for who You made us to be, in spite of our sins and mistakes. Bless us to remember that and live guilt-free in the pursuit of Your Son’s steps for our lives. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 Get the conversation started by commenting below, and let’s encourage one another as we face life in 2017 armed with grace! 

#greatgrace17

Happy Cloud-ing,

Megs

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