This is an article topic that was suggested by a dear friend of mine who resides in England. I met this kind sister in Christ while I was on a mission trip several years ago. Even though much time has elapsed, I still stay in contact with her and her family. Knowing this family has brought such great joy to my heart and I am so thankful to have the privilege of calling this family my friends.
Nevertheless, when my dear friend suggested the idea of writing about the topic of “When the Heart Refuses to Embrace Grace,” I was quite hesitant at first because I did not feel like I could properly give this article the amount of authenticity as I could with my other articles.
After all, I can write about mental health issues because I’ve struggled with them and I can write about the Bible, God, and Christianity because I have completed several degrees in theology; however, writing about the topic of the heart that refuses to embrace grace, it leaves me with only the personal experience I have obtained throughout my Christian walk.
To be honest, when my friend challenged me with this idea, I felt immediately convicted. I felt convicted because I know I have caused my own heart to refuse to embrace the grace of Jesus. Rather than allowing Jesus’ grace to fill up my heart, I have often turned away from Him and have allowed bitterness to rise up in me.
Maybe you can relate to these same feelings. Even though we may struggle with these feelings, the important thing for us to do is to choose to embrace grace even when it is hard.
Refusing Grace
As I have previously mentioned, I struggle to allow grace to occupy room in my heart. Instead of turning to God when things go wrong, I tend to turn away from Him and shut Him out. I don’t know specifically why I do this as most people I know tell me they turn to God when they are going through a tough time.
I think it might possibly be due to myself knowing that God can do anything, which means He could fix the problem, but He chooses not to. When our hearts refuse to embrace grace, there will only be sadness, pain, and grief.
I know this from personal experience because every time I turn away from God and I refuse to embrace Jesus’ grace, I just feel more alone. When we allow our hearts to embrace the grace of Jesus, we will experience His grace and love.
Refusing Jesus’ grace into our hearts will cause us to live a life of sorrow and pain. Turning away from God can cause us to try to seek out happiness, joy, and fulfillment in other things of the world. These things of the world will not make us happy. They will leave us feeling sad, overwhelmed, and empty inside.
For years, I had tried to seek out joy in different things of the world, such as friendships and achievements, but none of these things brought lasting joy to my soul. Rather than bringing grace into my heart, the things of the world caused me to feel depressed, rejected, and empty inside.
While friendships and achievements can be good in and of themselves, they should not become our source of fulfillment because only Christ can fill our hearts with unconditional love and grace. Anything that we set above God for fulfillment is an idol in our life.
Whether that be friends, school, or a relationship, all of these things can become “gods” of our lives. God is clear that we must not have any idols in our lives (Exodus 20:4). Good things, such as family, friends, and schooling can all become idols in our lives if we give them top priority over God.
As Christians, we must step back from finding comfort and contentment in the things of the world. Only Jesus can fill our hearts with lasting joy, love, and grace. It is a dangerous business to try to fill our hearts with things outside of Jesus’ grace.
A Hole in the Heart
When the heart refuses to embrace grace, the individual is choosing to turn a deaf ear to God. A heart can refuse to embrace grace, whether they are a Christian or not.
Most people understand that unbelievers refuse to embrace grace in their hearts because of unbelief; however, most people do not associate Christians with hearts that are unyielding to Jesus’ grace.
This can happen, though, whenever we as Christians decide to refuse Jesus’ love and grace into our hearts. If you are finding that you are refusing Jesus’ grace into your own heart, rest in the knowledge that it is okay. The first step of getting better is by first admitting there is a problem.
A heart unyielded to the grace of Christ will always be restless and depressed. The good news is that life doesn’t have to stay this way if you take an active change in your life to choose to embrace Jesus’ grace rather than refuse it.
This can be hard at times, especially if you’re somebody like me and you turn away from God during the hard times of life. We have to make an intentional effort to place our hope and faith in Christ alone. Allowing God’s love to run deep in our hearts will give us inner peace and serenity.
Embracing the grace of Christ means we have to believe what God says about us in the Bible rather than believing what the world tells us. God says we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-16). If our hearts embrace this truth, then we are truly embracing the grace of Christ.
This goes with any truths from the scriptures. If we don’t believe what the Bible tells us, then we are not embracing the grace of Jesus into our hearts. For me personally, most days I feel completely worthless.
Even though the Bible tells us we are dearly loved by God and are extremely valuable to Him, most days I just don’t believe it because I don’t feel it.
The truth is that God is greater than our feelings. Even though we may not “feel it” doesn’t mean it’s not true. Each day we have to make the intentional decision that we will believe what God says about us even if we don’t feel it.
Embracing God's Grace
When we choose to believe what God says, we are embracing His grace into our hearts. Now the challenge goes out to you. Is your heart accepting the grace of Jesus or is your heart refusing His grace? If your heart is refusing to embrace grace, make the decision to allow Jesus’ grace to fill up your heart with His love, care, and compassion.
Allowing Jesus’ grace into your heart will change your life and bring you lasting joy that can never be taken away. When the heart refuses to embrace grace, there will be pain, sorrow, and grief, but when the heart accepts grace, there will be joy, happiness, and fulfillment.
The Lord doesn’t want you to live a life of brokenness and isolation. He wants you to come to Him and allow His grace to pour into your heart.
For further reading:
How to Accept Grace When We Feel We Don’t Deserve It
What Does God Mean by ‘My Grace Is Sufficient for You’?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Chinnapong
