Can you imagine what life was like before Jesus? I think it’s hard for us to imagine a covenant of hard rules and regulations in order to serve a holy God. It was a lot to measure up to because once you failed in an area you had consequences that immediately had to be dealt with to keep you in good spiritual standing.
In 1 Peter chapter 1, the prophets whom God revealed the coming grace searched out the meaning of what it was, What would it look like and what it would mean? They were trying to imagine the very attribute we have readily available to us every day, salvation, freedom and the ability to be fully reconciled to God without sin in the way. I know as I struggled to understand how a holy God would love me and accept me in all my failures it seemed as if at some point there would be a catch and all my sin would still be staring me in the face. I think our real struggle is more in forgiving ourselves and trusting that His grace is sufficient. The difficultly becomes, can we forgive ourselves? Jesus took care of our sin once and for all through His sacrifice; all we have to do is ask. If you struggle with grace think of it as a gift and give thanks to God this Thanksgiving for what many could only hope to see and understand.
