Undignified Grace

There was nothing graceful about Jesus’ trial, nor His death. He was humiliated, tortured, whipped, beaten.
He was made to carry His cross while in great pain, through the streets
where crowds of people watched Him stumble and fall beneath the weight and the pain.
And when He reached the top of the hill with His cross on His back, and a stranger by His side,
He was nailed to that cross. His arms stretched wide, His feet stretched down:
one nail pounding, pounding pounding into His hands and His feet. There was nothing dignified about any of it.

And, yet, He submitted to His Father’s will and endured the undignified death that was, and is,
God’s plan for all of mankind. He was ‘obedient unto death’.

Through it all we were on His mind. He wanted us with Him and His Father,
but we couldn’t get there due to the sin in our hearts. That’s why He died: for us.
That through belief on Him, through the blood He shed for our sins, we would come to Him.
To hear God’s Word spoken in our ears, rooted in our hearts, flowing through us like rivers of living water.

Jesus doesn’t care how we come to Him, as long as we come.
Regardless of what we think about ourselves or in whatever state of being we are living,
He wants us to come. Whether we are outcasts of society,
like the ten lepers who came for a healing and were healed.
Or the woman with an issue of blood, who crawled on her hands and knees
to reach the Savior until her hand touched the hem of His garment,
where she was healed instantly. Undignified. Grace.

He cares not for what is seen on the outside, but He does care for what He sees on the inside.
Our hearts are less than dignified. While multitudes of thoughts may stream through
our minds at times, it is the thoughts that take root in our hearts that cause us to do evil.

Evil is not just the obvious acts that are committed by those who disobey the laws of the land.
Evil and wickedness are disobedience to God’s Word. If God said don’t do it, whatever it is,
and we do it anyway, we have committed an act of wickedness.
We have allowed evil thoughts to settle into our hearts long enough to perpetrate
unrighteous acts of disobedience. And, on the other end of this rationale, when God says to do something,
and we don’t do that which He tells us to do, that, too, is wickedness.
That is why we need a Savior. That is why He sent His Son to die in our place.
That is why Jesus submitted to God’s undignified saving grace plan of salvation.

We need undignified grace to cover our indignities, our unrighteous behavior;
the evil that is in our hearts needs to be uprooted and burned to ashes,
leaving only the Word of God there: active, alive, vibrant.
And we get it when we surrender our hearts to Jesus Christ.
When we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, we believe the many attributes that concern Him.
Attributes of healing, mercy, righteousness, to name a few.

We are drawn by His Light and His Love, desiring to get closer,
close enough to touch Him, like the woman who touched only the hem of His garment.
She just wanted to touch The Rabbi; And when she did, she was healed fully and completely.
For what did He tell her? “But Jesus turned himself about, and when He saw her, He said, ‘Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.’ And the woman was made whole from that hour.” Matthew 9:22

We are drawn by His voice, wooed into His presence by the tone of His Word, as the ten lepers were who came to Him for healing. But of the ten that believe on Him for a healing, only one came back and thanked Him; that one was a Samaritan man, a stranger of Israel, and yet, He believed. How do we know He became a believer? “And He said unto him, ‘Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.’”

Many come to Jesus, but not everyone who receives what is asked of Him, stays with Him. People who believe He can heal, but not save, may still receive a healing, but they have lost the opportunity to believe on Him for salvation and remain eternally in His presence. What a great loss this!

Faith makes us whole. Not just any faith, but faith in The Lord God, putting all our trust, our hope, our belief in Him, in His Word. Acknowledging that there is no other god like The God of Israel, we come to Him with humbled hearts, throwing ourselves on the mercy of His court. And His mercy is granted to they who truly believe that He Is, and repent of the sins in our hearts. His mercy endures for ever. (Psalm 136; Deuteronomy 7:9; Exodus 20:6; Acts 2:39)

The undignified grace by which we are saved (Ephesians 2:8-9) is for each and every one who comes to Him, believing that He Is and that He Can. (John 3:16-17). I believe and I have come to receive that which He has for me, whatever He chooses to give me, I choose to use for His glory.