Grace Wins

The morning after a big loss is always a tough one. It doesn't matter what kind of loss it is, it could be a death or a state play off game they all hurt in their own way and are sometimes the toughest to push through. Well today happens to be one of those days in this town. Today is the morning after a big football loss. Our high school boys lost last night in the first round of the playoffs by one point. Well being a youth pastor and having quite a few players on the team, my heart broke for them last night. And I know today has to be one where they are kicking themselves playing the only if game. As an adult it is easy to brush this off as just a football game, it's not such a big deal, but when you're in high school and you have been practicing for that game, and the whole season is now over because of one point, it is a big deal.

When something that is a big deal to you happens and knocks you down it is easy to find yourself in a dark dismal place. To some people a football game is just a game but to others it is everything. Your big deal may only be a big deal for you, but it doesn't change the pain or the way you feel. It is real. It doesn't matter what it is that puts you in your weak state of mind, because it is that place that can become prime stomping ground for the evil just waiting to get a hold on your heart. And when you find yourself in that moment you often look around and find not a lot of support but the opposite, it can feel like everyone is judging you and looking down on you because you don't have it all figured out. When what you really need are those people to rally behind you and help fight off those fears and doubts when you're not strong enough to do so.

Matthew West's new song Grace Wins has a line in it that keeps playing in my mind when I think about these football boys today, those grieving life gone too soon, and people struggling through whatever it is that life has thrown at them. This line "There is a war between guilt and grace and they're fighting for a sacred space. I am living proof that grace wins every time." This sacred space is the mind. This place that when filled with guilt and fear there is no room to see the grace and the greater plan for the situation.

I know this war far too well, especially recently. There have been many things in the past couple of months that have put me right in the middle of this battle over the sacred space within me. And it is so much easier to lie down and let that guilt and fear win, but that is not what we are called to do.We are called to rise up and fight back and let grace win. Doubt and fear are not from God. God is full of love and grace, He stomps out fear and guilt.

So today if you find yourself in that moment of weakness, don't allow yourself to be filled with the what ifs and if only's, don't look around at the judging eyes but fall to your knees and lift those feelings of guilt and fear to your Heavenly Father who exudes grace and gives it freely. There will always be a war between guilt and grace over your sacred space of your soul and mind. Don't give Satan that foothold because Grace can win and will win when you put your trust in God. The morning after should be just that, a morning not a long term stay.