Heresy! Cries everything in me. And yet, my actions and my thinking slip down that path so easily. I come from a line of thinking that say's, "I will DO just a little bit more to earn His love." I'm always trying to BE a "good little girl" to earn God's love. This thinking is so flawed and I know it is, but I constantly have to fight the urge to try to be better for Him. When in reality from the moment He scooped me up and placed me on His heavenly lap He viewed me as holy and blameless, and my sins were forgiven. I have to remind myself that this is the reason that Christ came to the cross to deliver me from my striving. Striving has ceased! No more striving! No more trying just a little harder. No more walking on pins and needles, hoping I did enough to earn His forgiveness. To try and earn forgiveness is to discredit the cross. There is nothing I can DO right now that will make Him love me more than He did the moment He went to the cross for me. He loved me then, as He loves me now, and no amount of walking little old ladies across the street will put me in better standing with my Lord.
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (1 Peter 3:18 NIV)"
"When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.” And the disciples were filled with grief. (Matthew 17:22, 23 NIV)"
Jesus spent a lot of His "career" time on earth telling His followers that He was going to die. So either His disciples thought that Jesus had some sort of obsession with death, or they realized that there was something bigger than them going on here, and they had better listen and pay attention.
Don't you think that if there was some other way for sins thirst to be quenched and for forgiveness to be made available to us, Jesus would have taken that route? Don't you think that God would have made a different way if there had been a better way? Yes! But there was no better sacrifice for my sin that Jesus Christ. HE was perfect and spotless, clean in every way. The ultimate payment for our sin. And to say there is a better way is to elevate ourselves above God, and claim to that we would have done it differently although is feels as though we are looking out for Christ's best interests, it instead points to the fact that we like Peter, have in mind the things of man, and not God.
God did what only GOD could. By sending Jesus, He took away the sins of the world, for those who call upon His name, answer His call and receive the gift of grace and salvation. The gift also comes with the added extras, it comes with the ability to cease fire. We no longer have to strive. To earn. To feel the guilt if we didn't meet the daily quota of good deeds. My whole being breaths a sigh of relief.
All I can say is "thank you Lord." This freedom that He has offered me, (and you) makes me want to live a life of obedience to Him.
I'm sure you've heard the song, "Obedience is, the very best way, to show that you believe!" And it is. After reading the book of Micah last night I left that book feeling a renewed sense of why we obey.
however strange it may seem these words came flying off the page to me,
"Heed the rod, and the One who appointed it." (Micah 6:9b) Heed the rod? Simply means to me, respond in obedience, for God is behind the direction or He is in this.
Doesn't that just come full circle and land me back on my earning His LOVE? NO! This is actually the beautiful melody of love that a heart sings when it's been set free. The song of obedience flies out your finger tips, and comes dancing out of your heart when you realize all that He did for you. You long to be obedient to the One who gave His very life for yours, so you didn't have to strive in your own strength, for you own salvation. My debt was paid. My sins are forgiven, and the chains on my wrists were unlocked so now I am free to use both hands to serve Him. And willingly I do so, because I realize all that He did.
I obey not to earn His love, but to rather to show my love for Him. The very word love implies that you are doing what is in the best interests of the one you love. To look out for the best interests of Jesus, for the integrity of the gospel and for the furthering of the Kingdom. To obey says, "Thank you Jesus for what you did for me."
And for the days I "screw up" royally, and do not fame the name the set me free, HE has grace and forgiveness for me in my folly. It's not a checks and balance system for Him. Nor is He waiting for me to screw up so He can say, "I told you so."
Grace is grace. It doesn't change. Neither does is love for me.
SO the next time I, (or you) start to consider either how badly we screwed up, or how great we did and "God must be so proud of me..." We ought to re-check, and check again, that it really is only by the grace of God that we are forgiven. Not by works. SO that NO one can boast.
"because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
2 Cor. 9:15
"Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:2
It is finished was His cry. The wrath of God was satisfied, every sin on Him was laid. OUR PENALTY HAS BEEN PAID!!!!
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