on burnt bacon...

Monday mornings are my Sabbath.

Working in a church, Sunday is not typically a day of rest; it’s full of church services, mission’s trainings, lunch dates, coffee dates, and office work. So yeah, Sundays are full, filling days, but they are not restful days.

I woke up this morning and hustled my way into the kitchen, preparing coffee and avocado toast and bacon (a heavenly trifecta). The bacon was on the burner and I turned around for literally maybe 30 seconds, and by that time, THE BACON WAS BURNT. Excuse me; what kind of bacon burns within the time it takes to pour a cup of coffee? Apparently the kind that I buy… I was frustrated. It was barely 8:30AM and I already wanted to throw in the towel. My morning, my restful, Sabbath, Jesus-filled morning was already off to clearly a great start.

My devotion this morning reminded me of something that my heart was in desperate need of hearing. It reminded me of the grace and strength that is found in weakness.

“Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our LORD was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus… Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the worst…”

– 1 Timothy 1: 13-15

So I sat there, with the coffee and the burnt bacon, and I thought about how my frustration wasn’t over the bacon itself, but about what the bacon represented. It was kind of like the straw that broke the camels back, if you will. The burnt bacon was a loud shout into my heart saying, “YOU AREN’T GOOD ENOUGH.” Now, my bacon doesn’t really talk to me, but bear with me… It was a resonating reminder of the lie that had been haunting me all week, that I am not strong enough and that I am not real enough and that I am not fill-in-the-blank enough. (Not to mention we studied Proverbs 31 in church this weekend, so there you go.)

Kaitlin Wernet over at She Reads Truth said, “I want to avoid dwelling on my faults, so I immediately justify them with my strengths.” Friends, our greatest strength is that we sin; there is no way that our strengths justify our weaknesses because even our strengths can be weaknesses. It is only in Christ, only in His grace, that our weaknesses are justified. My jealousy, my lust, my sinful nature cannot be compensated or justified by any skill set I have acquired; ONLY CHRIST, only Christ. Our weakness is incapable of being greater than His strength and His grace.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My jealousy, my lust, my sinful nature cannot be

compensated or justified by any

skill set I have acquired...

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

And here is the kicker… I AM A REAL PERSON. I sin, I fall short, I have areas in my life that I need to grow in. I am not perfect and in a sense, I really am not “enough”, and I am not supposed to be. Christ is enough, only Christ is enough. His grace is more abundant in the moments where our jealousy takes hold, where we get angry with our friends and family, where our lust becomes action, where our weaknesses are highlighted. His grace covers our sin and strife and our burnt bacon.

You are enough because Christ is enough, you are strong because His strength is made whole in your weakness, and you are pardoned because of the grace He lavishes. I have no idea what season of life you are in today; maybe a newlywed, maybe a new mom, maybe a singlet trying to figure our life, maybe recovering from a loss, maybe overjoyed by a new adventure coming your way. No matter what season you are in, His grace is more abundant.