Does God accept me as I am?

By Pastor Kaloma Smith, Senior Pastor, UAMEZ Church · Last updated October 1, 2026

Yes. God's grace meets you where you are, in the state you are in, with the brokenness you carry. You do not have to fix yourself, learn the rituals or memorize the Psalms before God will run toward you. Grace is enough for what you are dealing with today. This sermon was posted June 9, 2026. Watch the full sermon here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQVoMaOlyjg

What is God's grace?

Grace is God's love and help given to people who could never earn it. I was thinking about grace while I was in Jamaica after my uncle passed, and I kept asking where grace begins. What I came to is that grace is sufficient. "Grace does not ask us to make sense of anything. Grace simply asks us to trust." It is bigger than your questions, bigger than your grief and bigger than anything you brought into the room.

Why hasn't God taken my struggle away?

Paul knew this question. He had a thorn in his side that he could not get rid of, and he begged God three times to take it away. God didn't. Instead, God told him that his grace was enough and that his power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Many of us have something we've been asking God to remove for years. The answer Paul got was not his own strength or his ability to hold it together. It was God's grace.

Does grace make us proud?

No, it makes us grateful. The longer Paul knew the Lord, the more honest he became about himself. Early on he called himself the least of the apostles. Later he said he was less than the least of all the saints. Near the end of his life he called himself the foremost of sinners. The closer Paul got to grace, the smaller he saw himself and the bigger he saw grace. If a man who wrote so much of the New Testament could say that, there is hope for everyone.

Do I have to clean up my life before I come to God?

No. Think about the prodigal son in Luke 15. He took his inheritance early, spent it all in the city and ended up hungry in a pig pen. When he walked home, he still had the mud on him. His father ran to him, threw his arms around him and kissed him. He did not lead with questions about the money. "Grace does not wait for us to clean ourselves up." That is why I want UAMEZ to be a place for people who left church, people who have never been and people who don't know the rules.

Is grace only found in church?

No. The church doesn't own grace, and I don't own grace. Grace travels. It found some of us when we were hiding, ashamed or in places we shouldn't have been. It found the thief on the cross who had nothing to offer, and Jesus promised he would be with him in paradise. Grace meets us in the hospital bed, in the house, on the street and in the sanctuary. The psalmist asked where he could go from God's presence, and the answer is nowhere.

How is God's forgiveness different from ours?

We keep records. God keeps grace. Some of us have a petty streak. We know how to ignore the phone and say we're done with someone. Some distance is healthy protection, and I'm not asking you to walk into unhealthy situations. But God promises to remember our sins no more. That is not weak grace. "It takes more strength to forgive than to hold a grudge." The strongest thing in the universe is God's grace, and it has the final word.

Join us Sundays at 10 AM PT at 3549 Middlefield Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94306, or watch live at youtube.com/@uamez. Plan your visit at uamez.com.