For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
Heart change is done by the Spirit of God. The process of sanctification is evidence of our salvation. Were it not for the Holy Spirit living inside us, we would have no desire to change our heart or to glorify God. This is very important: God is pleased with us because of Christ, and that does not change. His pleasure rests upon us because His wrath has been satisfied for the sake of Christ.
The “pleasing” of God that is done in the sanctification process is glorifying to His name and Person. It is contained in revealing Christ in us to others and introducing them to the character and Person of Christ through us. This brings much glory to God.
Grace is given to us because it glorifies God to do so, not because we are deserving, special, or worthy. Have you ever thought about what a marvelous thing it is that God chooses to bring Himself glory by saving us?
God demonstrates grace to us because He is holy and cannot tolerate our sinfulness. I am reading a book that contains a chapter about the holiness of God, and the author says that in the Bible you don’t read about the cherubim and seraphim surrounding the throne of God and saying “wonderful, wonderful, wonderful” or “faithful, faithful, faithful.” They say “holy, holy, holy” when speaking of God. He is a holy God and we would be foolish to think that sinfulness on any level is acceptable to God..
Our unholiness demanded a stiff redemptive price--the blood of Christ.
Our unholiness is the reason we need grace unto salvation. We are completely and totally unworthy of what we have received.
It is in seeing our unworthiness that we can begin to have a glimpse of just exactly why we are to demonstrate grace to those who have hurt us so deeply.
In those painful relationships when we show grace to those who don’t deserve it it is important to realize it may not make one bit of difference in how we are treated by them and it may not change any manner of response by the offender
What we will experience is freedom from bitterness. In spite of the rotten way we may continue to be treated, we will see God working in our lives as a result of responding in a Christ-like manner.
When helping others to understand this, make it a goal to help them to get their focus off “self” and onto what God is doing in their heart and life as they step out in faith and obedience to the call of Christ.
Remind yourself often; the goal is not to end the suffering, but to glorify God as you are suffering.