This morning's post is from CARE for AIDS intern, Anna Wilke.
By now you have probably all seen Chris Pratt’s MTV Generation Award speech, I personally have watched it several times. Rule nine, the final rule in his speech, specifically stood out to me. It says, “Nobody is perfect. People are going to tell you you’re perfect just the way you are, you’re not. You are imperfect. You always will be. But there is a powerful force that designed you that way, and if you’re willing to accept that, you will have grace. And grace is a gift. And like the freedom that we enjoy in this country that grace was paid for with somebody else’s blood. Do not forget it. Don’t take it for granted.”
In this rule Pratt talks about grace and compares it to “the freedom that we enjoy in this country,” and just like men and women have laid down their lives in defense of the freedom of the people of the United States, Jesus laid down his life in order to ensure grace and freedom for everyone who believes in Him. When Jesus died for our sins, He gave us the freedom to choose the grace He has made available to us. When we choose to accept this gift of grace that our Father has freely given to us, we are cloaked in it and that is all God sees when He looks at us. He sees people cloaked in His grace as perfect, and that gives us freedom.
Our freedom in Christ is wholly dependent on His grace. The grace our Heavenly Father has given us allows us freedom from the eternal consequences of our sin. This grace gives us the freedom to forgive those who hurt us, and to love others unconditionally, things we could not do before. So as we approach the Fourth of July, a holiday devoted to celebrating the freedom we enjoy as a country, let’s remember the freedom we are freely offered in Christ.
