Grace Has Teeth!
Human beings have a tendency to compare themselves with others.
We set a standard of behavior that no one can meet, and are often harsh and unforgiving when we fail. We know we could have done more, worked harder, or not said those things. But as we grow in this understanding of God’s love and learn to identify the parts of our spiritual makeup, we also begin to realize that God sees us different from how we see ourselves.
When God looks at us, He doesn’t see our faults. He doesn’t see our issues. He sees us as righteous, healed, prosperous, and full of joy—all the things we are in the Spirit. James tells us:
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does (James 1:22-25).
Here, James compares God’s Word to a mirror that shows us who we are in the Spirit. God’s Word shows us how God sees us, what He says about us, and all the good He has planned for our lives. It is the “perfect law of liberty.” It doesn’t show us what we can be if we work hard. It doesn’t show us what we’ll look like after we’ve walked with God for ten years. It sets us free by showing us who we are right now as believers in Christ.
Unfortunately, we often use the Word of God like a natural mirror, approaching it with the intention of finding our faults. We see ourselves, and others, after the flesh and miss what God sees. We make note the failures and disappointments of our past and use them to disqualify ourselves from God’s blessings.
God does not see us through the lens of our past. When God looks at us, He sees through the lens of His past—the cross. We must stop using His Word to uncover our faults. If we belong to Christ, we are fixed. The Holy Spirit lives in us. That means we have access to the same power, the same anointing, and the same intimacy with God that Jesus had. That’s what grace is all about.
God loves us. He gave His Son to redeem us so He could make His dwelling place within us. When God looks at us, He doesn’t see our flesh and all its imperfections. He sees Himself. He sees grace. Not a grace that frees us to walk in sin without consequence, but Grace— the person of Jesus—who says, “This is not who you are. Get up. Try again. This time, allow My Spirit to lead you, teach you, and guide you into all truth” (see John 16:13). Grace empowers us to change. It reminds us who we truly are and enables us to live life from the Spirit.
Whether we are youth pastors or business owners, teachers or politicians, social workers, mothers, fathers, or musicians, God’s plan for each of us is to look like Jesus—to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). But we limit ourselves. We become so focused on what we’re going to do, we lose sight of who we are to be. God wants us to take off those self-set limits. He wants us to learn to judge our successes and our failures after the Spirit asking: Does this success make me who I am? Does that failure change the way God sees me? Does it limit my potential? The answer to each question? No. We cannot exhaust grace—His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23)—but that doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want. We can’t continue to be ugly, lustful, revengeful, and immoral even though God only sees us through the eyes of Grace. Those works of the flesh are not who we are. We are God’s children. We are holy and righteous. We are self-controlled and alert. And we need to start agreeing with God by acting like who we are (1 Peter 1:16; 5:8). We find who we are in the Word. The first three chapters of Ephesians declare what God has done for us in the person of Christ. They recall His love and good plan for our lives—which is grace. But the last three chapters of Ephesians display another side of grace. They remind us that who we are in the Spirit should affect what we do in the flesh.
As children, grace instructs us to honor authority. As wives, grace directs us to encourage our husbands to step into their God-given role of leadership instead of criticizing them. As husbands, grace reminds us that our role does not mean ruling over our wives and children with an iron fist, but loving them and drawing out their gifts and calling. Grace influences the way we treat others and changes the way we resist the enemy.
Grace is not one-dimensional; it is not greasy. Grace has teeth. It offers everything God is and shows us the right way to live. Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and lust so that we can “live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:12). Grace enables us to live above our circumstances. It removes every excuse of the flesh. No more “too old,” “too young,” or “too damaged.” Grace discards those monikers of the flesh and calls us “qualified” (Colossians 1:12), “complete” (Colossians 2:10), and “equipped” (2 Timothy 3:17). It says we “can do all things through Christ who strengthens” us (Philippians 4:13).
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 1:20 NIV).
We must learn to recognize and agree with (say “amen” to) the grace of God. God’s grace is a gift given to whole world when Jesus said yes at the cross. And in that grace, we find all God’s promises wrapped and waiting for us to experience. But in order to see those promises come to pass in our lives and bring glory to God, we have to learn to say amen and agree with God.
Repentance is an important part of the grace-filled life. But repentance is not just sorrow. It’s a decision to turn around. When we realize we’ve been walking in the flesh or not behaving as God’s children, repentance turns us back toward the Spirit. When we recognize that we’ve not been agreeing with God or seeing ourselves as He sees us, repentance changes our mind. It says, “That was stupid. I’m sorry, Lord. I know that’s not who I am. You see me as righteous and I’m choosing to agree with that. Help me walk in such a way as to bring You glory.”
Repentance is not laborious. We have no need to spend hours on our knees begging for mercy. God doesn’t put us on probation. Nor do we have to work our way back to Him. We simply turn around.
Consider the prodigal son (see Luke 15:11-32). He took his inheritance, left his father’s house, and spent it all on wild living. When famine struck and his money ran out, Scripture says he came to his senses. The boy repented and returned to his father’s house offering to take the place of a servant. But the father looked past his son’s mistakes. He covered them with a richly ornamented robe and welcomed him back into his house. Anyone walking past in that moment might have seen some crazy hair, but they wouldn’t have seen the pigpen. His robe covered it. That’s what God sees when He looks at you, and that is what the enemy sees too. That’s why he’s constantly trying to get you to turn toward the flesh, open up that robe, and look at the filth of the past. Stay covered. Remember who you are and allow God to wrap you in His robe of grace.
In John 16:8-11, Jesus says the Holy Spirit would convict the world of three things: “Of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” The Holy Spirit’s job is to convict the world of sin—specifically, the sin of not believing in Jesus.
However, that is not His role in a believer’s life. Instead of convicting believers of sin, the Holy Spirit convicts us of righteousness. Before Jesus came, the Old Testament priests offered daily sacrifices that covered people’s sin. Once a year, the High Priest also entered the Holy of Holies to offer a sacrifice for the entire nation. Those men never rested. They always had more sacrifices to make.
Jesus’ sacrifice was different. He offered it “once for all” (Hebrews 9:12), then returned to His Father where we see Him no more. He does not have to go in and out of the Holy Place offering sacrifices again and again like the Old Testament priests.
Jesus made us righteous. And as God’s children covered in the evidence of His love—grace—God does not keep track of our wrongs. When we mess up, the Holy Spirit reminds us of our covering. He reminds us of what Jesus did and convicts us of our righteousness. He says, “You’re better than this. Don’t you know what’s in you? Don’t you know who you are? I have a plan for you, and this is not part of it. Repent. Return to who you are in the Spirit.”
The Holy Spirit also convicts us that the ruler of this world is judged. In other words, Satan is a non-issue. When we focus on who we are in Christ, he has zero authority in our lives. He’s been defeated. But sometimes we have to remind ourselves of that. We can’t compare what we see in a natural mirror with what we see in God’s Word. We have to remind ourselves how God sees us. Sometimes we have to preach to ourselves and declare the Word over our circumstances, over our emotions. We have to tell ourselves to “Get up. Stop whining and feeling sorry for yourself. Turn around. Look to the Father; remember His love and go back to the Word.”
When God looks at us, He sees us as righteous, sanctified, and set apart for His good purpose, redeemed. Not recognizing our value in His sight diminishes our effectiveness in the world. First Corinthians 1:30-31 says, “But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” We need to continue to grow in these Life Foundations— God’s love for us, who we are in the spirit, and how God sees us—so we can truly understand the gospel message and our role in it.
John glimpsed this role while exiled on the Isle of Patmos. When he attempted to kneel before a visiting angel, the angel rebuked him saying, “See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant…. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10). Notice how the angel tied Jesus’ testimony (the past), with prophecy (the future). Jesus’ testimony, His entire life’s work—every healing, every miracle, every prayer—has become our spirit of prophecy. That means everything we see in the Word that Jesus accomplished is now prophesied or declared over our lives.
Because Jesus fulfilled the law, we can be right with God. Because He bore our sickness and grief, we can be healed. Because we have the same Spirit living in us, we can do what He did. “As He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). What an amazing statement! But have you ever looked at that Scripture in its full context?
And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love (1 John 4:16-18).
We are surrounded by the love of God! We can be like Jesus, we can experience God’s goodness and peace and share that goodness with the world because we “have known and believed” the love of God.
Do you see how these foundations of God’s love, our spiritual makeup, and grace, seeing things from God’s perspective, tie together? They are essential elements of our Christian walk. With them, we push past fear and failure and start walking in our full potential. We resist the temptation to compare ourselves with others or measure our value by our position; and instead, determine our value by what God was willing to pay for us—His only Son. We choose to agree with God and measure our success in light of our obedience. And in that, find freedom!
