Freely Given
God has freely given to us salvation from sins and all of the things we need to live the Christian life. He has given us His Spirit to show us all of the things He has given us.(I Corinthians 2:12) All of this goes against our human nature and what the wisdom of this world tells us. That is why we must listen to the Spirit.
Our human nature tells us we have to work to be good enough for God to accept us. Then, we have to work even harder to live a good Christian life. We think we have to strive to be better than other people, so God will notice us. Think of all of the religions of the world. They are all based on something we have to do to find God or please God. They miss the relationship with God. The wisdom of this world focuses on us, on our needs, and on how we have to assert ourselves to have our needs met. None of this is reality.
God comes after us. Jesus came to earth seeking us, because He knew we could not save ourselves. He knew we could not pay for our own sins or forgive ourselves. We could not remove the shame of sin or defeat the powers of darkness. He did it for us. Then, all He seeks from anyone is that we surrender to Him in faith. He acknowledge Him as Lord and trust that He is the only one who can forgive us. Then, He freely forgives our sins, removes the shame, and gives us the power to overcome Satan and his forces each day. It is all a free gift, not based on works or being good. It is based on trust, which is not a work.(Romans 4)
Let's spend some time thanking God for His generous free gift of salvation and all of the free gifts He gives us each day, so that we can live an abundant life in Christ.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Corinthians 3-6.
Our human nature tells us we have to work to be good enough for God to accept us. Then, we have to work even harder to live a good Christian life. We think we have to strive to be better than other people, so God will notice us. Think of all of the religions of the world. They are all based on something we have to do to find God or please God. They miss the relationship with God. The wisdom of this world focuses on us, on our needs, and on how we have to assert ourselves to have our needs met. None of this is reality.
God comes after us. Jesus came to earth seeking us, because He knew we could not save ourselves. He knew we could not pay for our own sins or forgive ourselves. We could not remove the shame of sin or defeat the powers of darkness. He did it for us. Then, all He seeks from anyone is that we surrender to Him in faith. He acknowledge Him as Lord and trust that He is the only one who can forgive us. Then, He freely forgives our sins, removes the shame, and gives us the power to overcome Satan and his forces each day. It is all a free gift, not based on works or being good. It is based on trust, which is not a work.(Romans 4)
Let's spend some time thanking God for His generous free gift of salvation and all of the free gifts He gives us each day, so that we can live an abundant life in Christ.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Corinthians 3-6.