Spinach in Your Teeth

I need to blog more often...I miss it when I'm not doing it, it's my way of reflecting on what the LORD is doing in my life and heart...
I've been reading in James these last couple of weeks and though I've read it before...I'm really studying it and paying attention to it this time... Today I read about being a hearer and a doer of the WORD...he compares a person who hears the WORD and doesn't apply it to their lives as one who looks in the mirror and walks away, forgetting what they look like...it's more like if you look in the mirror and see that you have spinach in your teeth...leave it/ignore it and walk away, spending the rest of the day smiling at people, talking to people...with spinach still in your teeth...well really it's more like you have dog doo all over your face and you try to ignore that! The WORD is the "mirror"...only the reflection we should be looking at should look like CHRIST and when we see ourselves...our flaws, iniquities, sins, shortcomings, struggles...we turn away and ignore what we saw. Why would we want to do that?! I personally want the doo OFF!
My pastor taught about the dangers of falling into "religiosity"...something I'd been very guilty of doing for the majority of my life. But that way of living is exhausting...it's so much better to live my life for CHRIST just because I love HIM and I'm grateful for His grace...rather than trying to "earn" His love and forgiveness. This concept is so overwhelming! to the point that I cannot stop crying. My heart breaks that people can't or won't accept this or don't understand the concept, because it is sooooo beautiful and I am so grateful! How wonderful is our GOD! "Faith in His grace is about trusting...not doing...it is unearned and undeserved." No matter how filthy, vile & disgusting I am...what I've done, said, thought, felt...etc, HE still receives, forgives, accepts and loves me...HE washes me clean. That does not however mean that I can or will live however I want just because I know that HE will forgive me, I will live for HIM...because how I live matters! It matters to me...to my family...to my church...to my community...to my GOD! I will be getting rid of the "spinach" in my teeth...no more doo on this girl!