Accepted by Grace
Read Genesis 1:26-31
The one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
-Philippians 1:6 (NRSV)
FOR more than 15 years, I've been teaching adolescents in a secular setting and in the church I attend. Due to changes in school programs related to my job, I decided to take a refresher course. The instructor said something about grading student essay papers that has remained with me. "Don't focus on what is lacking in the essay," the instructor said. "Rather, look for the strengths or key points in the content. Remember, these young people are still in learning mode." I thought about how, as professors, we tend to be zealous in finding fault with whatever paper or project we are grading.
Society sometimes conditions us to take or accept a negative point of view. But if I thought God saw only my faults, I would find it difficult to feel God's love for me. Genesis tells us that God looks at us and calls us "very good." Though God knows me completely, my condition and my faults, God also helps me grow and move beyond them. In God's grace, I am accepted.
We can learn to value positive qualities in others and not be judgmental, accepting that God continues to work in each of us, gathering us together as a family.
Rebeca De la Garza Escamilla (Nuevo Leon, Mexico)
Loving God, thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, whose love washed away our sins. We come before you, secure in the knowledge that we are accepted by grace. Amen.
God loves me as I am.
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Those with low self-esteem
