Dear friend,
I want to speak to you personally, just you and me.
I could say a lot, but certain things overflow in my heart.
How I long for you to know… please know, that I am not who some might think or portray that I am.
Many people follow me, but they are not me. Some with good intentions, some with not. They misunderstand and miscommunicate my heart and my message. I love them, but their love and understanding of my love, is not always true to mine.
“Church” is not me. The Bible is not me. Both of which, yes, I did create, but created to lead to me. They are not me. Each at times, missing my heart and my message. I always interpreted the Bible anew in light of myself, I designed the church as the manger of myself. They, are not me.
Honestly, I am heart-broken with much of what many of my followers have made of me, my message, and the life I desire. The cost has been great. Many who claim to know me the most, turn out to know me the least. Their lips sound so spiritual, but there hearts are far from me. So much that when I tell you who I am and how I feel about you, you probably won’t even recognize me.
I am Grace. Pure Grace.
I have nothing but love for you, unconditional love. Always have, always will. There has never been, nor will there ever be a moment or a person absent of my love, including you.
I am love. All I do is love.
There is no other love from me than unconditional love; from beginning to end, all the days of your life. Any other flavor of love portrayed from me unto you is a reduction, a fabrication, a mixture, a religious idol.
Love can be only unconditional or it is not love at all. That’s the one and only, original and eternal… unconditional love.
There are no conditions you could satisfy for my love, and because of my love, there are no conditions for you to satisfy.
You have been forgiven, all stains erased… past, present and future. Those secret thoughts, bloopers and blunders. The big, the little, the knowing, the unknowing. The ones you enjoyed, the ones you regret. The ones you meant, the ones you didn’t. Every one.
I don’t think about your mistakes and blemishes, but I know you do. I have forgotten what you remember. They are dead to me, even though alive to you. All that was, is, and will be, is forgiven and forgotten… completely. Sin and brokenness makes for a terrible mirror. Stop looking into it and believing the people who tell you to do so, it’s not who you are. My Grace is sufficient, it’s depth deep enough, it’s height, high enough, it’s healing, powerful enough. No choice chosen or unchosen can withstand it.
I have made you holy, sanctified, and justified. You are complete and whole and so is our relationship. There is nothing wrong with you, and nothing wrong between you and me. Everything that is right about me I have made right about. You are the image you see when you look into the mirror of Me.
This is what I accomplished for you and did to you on the cross. I brought you from death to life, from broken to whole. It’s what I do, it’s what I did.
That’s why I said “It is finished” while being crucified. I finished your salvation; your being made whole, and our being whole together. It is finished, never to be undone.
Despite what many of my followers have said, I am not angry, there is no condemnation for your life, there is no reason for guilt or shame to rule your heart and mind. And any suffering, struggle, or hardship in your life is not from me. I promise.
I am not the unstable white-bearded old man who loves you one moment and is throwing lightning bolts at you the next. I am not the bad parent who uses wrong to bring about right, punishment to bring about holiness, evil to bring about good, hardship to bring about significance, adversity to bring about growth. You are already right, holy, good, fully grown and significant. I finished that project. Now, I am just trying to convince you that you are a finished project. Stop working on what I have finished and start enjoying and being the workmanship you already are… please.
I accept you, as is. I delight in you, as is. I am proud of you, as is. Your picture has and always will be in my wallet.
I have seen your pain, I have felt your cry, I know your thoughts. You tears have been my tears, when you couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t sleep either. My heart breaks at the destruction condemnation, hopelessness, tragedy, inadequacy, guilt, and shame have unleashed in your life. I was there, and will be there in every moment. I run to you when life hurts most, when you stumble the greatest. The anguish is deep, the insecurities wide spread. Your daily struggle, one step in front of the other, is real. And, it’s really real to me.
I am sorry that many of my followers have fanned these wounds into flame. They judge, label, point fingers, look down noses and prescribe a life of religious performance as the cure, defending their doctrines, platforms, and their institutions while throwing the world under the bus and into their hell.
Hell? This is hell… trying to earn or accomplish that which I have already freely given. To fall from Grace; rejecting it for yourself, turning to yourself, and restricting it from others. To be pursued and poured over by a Love you refuse to embrace, and therefore a Love you withhold. It’s an eternal party where everyone is dancing in Grace, all but the religious, with hands crossed, noses to the ground, backs up against the wall in protest, “what are they doing here?” It’s Grace to get you in the door, but rules, expectations, to-do lists, and spiritual gymnastics to keep the Light on. It’s confusing “walking in darkness” as disobedience, when it’s withholding and rejecting Grace that is the heart of all that is evil. It’s lukewarm; a mixture of love and condition, Grace and Law, Jesus and Jesus-plus-me. It’s clubs with crosses on tops. Slick services, with spiritual steps, to-do lists, and appeals to become more “successful for Jesus” at the front, and Grace, resting in Grace, and being Grace, in the back, if present at all.
So, you are a drunk, a liar, a thief, a gossip, a murderer, an adulterer, a glutton, a hater and on and on… all the same to me. All redeemed by me. Not offended, not altered, just concerned for what it’s stealing from your life and the lives of others.
They call you homosexual, transgender, bi-sexual, white, black, hispanic, asian, special needs, bi-polar, fat, skinny, smart, stupid, ugly, beautiful, successful, failure, rich, poor, male, female, child, adult, all the same to me. All label-free to me.
So, where are we now? Well, you are done with church, fed up with Christians, confused by the chatter, searching for truth, looking for a better way, at times going through the motions, trying to make the most out of life. Where am I? Well I am with you, reaching out to you now. Not through church, not through the Bible, not through a sign. Just me to you.
I love you. Without expectation. Before you could love me, I first and forever loved you. That’s my decision, that’s my verdict, that’s my heart. Case closed. Question answered. Debate solved. Unseen, now seen. Grace wins.
I have done it all. You have it all. From death to life, insecure to secure, hopeless to hope, broken to whole, sinner to saint, fear to faith. It’s a gift. All of it.
That’s Grace. Your part is to realize you have no part, only to believe.
Accept your acceptance. Awaken to your awakening. I am your Father, the Lover of your Soul, your Creator. It’s me, Jesus… Grace. Grace is a person, and that person is Me.
What is your life? Well, life… it’s not a test, it’s a rest. What are you to do? Rest in Grace. I’ll show you what to do.
Enjoy Me, and do what you love to do in ways that honor me. That’s my super duper, perfect will for you. Be you, be Grace. You are the revival, you are the miracle, you are the “big thing.” Everything is spiritual, everything you do is spiritual because you are doing it. Be you. You are the loveliness of Me on earth.
So relax, I got this, I have you. Go, believe, be free and enjoy!
I leave you with this thought.
You can always tell where Grace is, by the religious that gather to crucify it. The religious will crucify you as you embrace pure Grace and give pure Grace in your life. If they hated Grace when I was there, they will hate it in you as you are there.
Believe in Grace, be Grace anyways.
Grace won, Grace wins,
Jesus
Love this post Chris 🙂 awesome work.
Thank you Daniel!