Oh, How He loves us so.

Lately I have been completely in awe of the Lord's attention towards me.  The fact that He even thinks towards me is remarkable at all, but the fact that He views me as perfect through Jesus amazes me even more.  Last night at church, my pastor said that - that Jesus views me as a perfect work.  I thought, Lord - how can this be?  I am so imperfect, so sinful.  I am so messed up and dirty, there is no way that I could EVER be perfect.  I am so far from perfect its disgusting.  I judge, I sin, I hate, and I think things I shouldn't.  But in Jesus there is grace.  One pastor said this about grace and mercy:  

“Grace is what God gives us when we don't deserve and mercy is when God doesn't give us what we do deserve.”  But it's true.  Jesus does view His children, his disciples as a perfect work.  Through the penalty that was paid on the cross, we have been saved.  To see others as a finished work is a hard thing to do with the barriers and confines of sin, but try it.  To see people as God sees His people.  But being saved is only the first step, and the easiest.  Many think that it is the most difficult step: entrusting your life with Jesus.  But the second step is lifelong, and much more difficult: sanctification- a life long process that involves stretching, thinning, molding, cutting away, shaping, strengthening, and perfecting.   The word perfecting in the bible, doesn't often mean perfect as in without fault or failure, but it means maturity.  That we would constantly be striving for perfection, so not as to be above one another, but above reproach; to be more and more like Jesus.  As I ponder these things, I am reminded of this verse, Philippians 3:12-14:

^{" 12} Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. ¹³ Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. "
Also, I share with you this song has spoken to me recently.  The depth and width and vastness that is God's love for us and just how He loves us.  How big it is, the mulitude of sin that it covers, and how intimate it is for those who embrace it and long after it. Enjoy.