Illustrations of Grace



Cleanse 2 by Thanwan Singh

This past Sunday we had a church takeover. Sunday evening service was run by our youth group, and boy was it amazing.  The topic that was chosen was Grace. Most of the talks, or devotions were based on God's forgiveness. Which is absolutely amazing, I mean for a perfect God to forgive a sinner such as I, and allow that sinner a personal relationship with him, that is amazing.

Between special music and the youth devotions they did a really cool illustration of the process of sanctification. According to The free dictionary . com, sanctify is defined as:

1. To set apart for sacred use; consecrate
2. To make holy; purify

Want to see an example of their illustration? See the youtube video below that they based their illustration on. As they did the illustration the read script from 1 John 1.

 

In 1 John 1 we read

 ⁶ If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  ⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  ¹⁰ If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all^[a] sin.

⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

  ⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

If you notice every other verse deals with similar topics. verses 6,8 and 10 all cover sin and our relationship with Jesus who is truth.  verses 7 and 9 cover that Jesus is perfect and that his sacrifice purifies us from sin, and verse 5 reminds us that there is no evil, sin, or darkness in God. God is good all the time.


God offers us sanctifying grace, through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross!

I know that I am not perfect, but I strive to live a life pleasing to God. In my attempt I try to live my life away from temptation, I have proven over and over again that taking an inch, leads me a great distance from God. Sometimes I fall and have to start fresh, but only by focusing on Jesus can I even begin to live in light. We did an experiment with our youth after pouring "Jesus" into the "you" jar, if you add sin, it doesn't appear.

That isn't because we don't sin, but by living set apart we can allow Jesus to change or transform (purify) us. This is an on going process.

When you read 1 John 1:5-10 what pops out to you? How do you live set apart in your daily life?
How do you refocus on Jesus?