Defined by Grace

What DEFINES you? If you had to write a definition of who you are, what would you say?

Lately, it seems like God is trying to remind me of what truly defines me. My pastor's sermon on Sunday was about this topic. A book I'm reading this week has brought it up a number of times. A blog I read yesterday brought the issue to mind. It seems like it keeps popping up, so I decided to verbalize it for myself yesterday.

I posted the following on Facebook on Tuesday: Motherhood does not define me. Neither does being a wife. I am defined by my relationship to God – justified by the blood of Jesus, being sanctified daily through His grace, and looking forward to the day when I will be glorified with Him in heaven! Everything else is temporary and can change in a heartbeat – only He is eternal!

Our definition is found in who Christ is and what He has done rather than in ourselves and in what we have done.

If you do not know Christ, you are defined as "lost, unregenerate, unrighteous". The Bible says that all our good works are like filthy rags to God. He is perfect and can accept nothing less than absolute perfection. We've all messed up - even if it's just "a little white lie", it keeps us from being perfect. There is a consequence for our failure to live up to God's standard of perfection - death, eternal separation from God. BUT, Jesus paid that penalty for us when He died on the cross. He not only died in our place, but He came back to life, defeating the power of sin (the mistakes we make) and giving all who trust in Him the opportunity to have eternal fellowship with God! If you have not trusted in Him, please email me and I'd love to take more time to share with you this amazing gift of grace that He has given us!

We are all defined by His grace - whether we've accepted it or not is the only difference!