Grace!

I apologize for the delays...life is just going by so quickly.

In my most recent newsletter I talked about Grace and I wanted to expand on what I talked about

Grace is hard to understand and embrace, even in my own life. One thing that has challengeded me this month is needing to learn how to be like Jesus among my new co-workers, operating out of grace instead of my own strength. I find myself tempted to fall into gossip, complaining, and thinking that its me (and not Jesus) that's impacting my work environment. As I invest in those around me, it is easy to see how they define success; to them, one needs to do something... it's working hard towards a goal. Then I look at all the Christians the Lord has brought into my life to pour into, success has looked pretty similar. God has been refining my understanding of true success; living in His abundant grace. I know how to follow his commandments well, but receiving his free gift of grace is much harder especially because according to the ways of the world nothing in this life is ever free. This idea of striving and working for things so easily creeps into our thoughts for our salvation, the very salvation that we have already obtained because of Christ's death. This salvation cannot be worked towards, it cannot be earned, and ABSOLUTELY nothing we do can repay the debt Christ paid. All other religions except for Christianity are work-based. They do not have a Savior that is willing to die for them to restore what went wrong. I see how easily I forget that I need Jesus. Because of what Jesus does for us, we do not need to operate like other religions, striving for his favor. We cannot dismiss that He's paid it all and God is pleased by our faith, not by works...if we only think of what we must do, we're out of balance. Without stopping to receive the grace of Jesus, we are not living to our full capacities, we are not living in freedom, we are loving and serving those around us out selfishness, and worst of all we are denying what Christ died for on the cross. I truly believe when Jesus said, “my yoke is easy and burden is light” he really meant it.We make it difficult when we try to do it out of our strength. True ministry comes out of abiding in Christ and just being, not from some misguided sense of obligation to Him.

So I'm trying not to be like the world by remembering that I need Christ and the freedom of His grace and love. This ministry's success hinges on my willingness to surrender control and rely solely on Him; I merely participate with what God is already doing (John 5:19). He is our provider and all of our goodness comes from Him.

 

As a believer in Christ, Sucess depends on our ability to give up our will and look to God's will. When people look at this they should notice that our lives look different. Our priorities are different and because of this we offer a different kind of hope. A hope that rests in knowing that striving gets you no where...just tired, lost, and trapped. A hope that one can rest, that one can truly be valued by who they are and not what they can do. This is what I hope people see in my life.

 

 

Oswald Chamber sums it up pretty well...

being justified freely by His grace . . . —Romans 3:24

The gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the truth that it reveals is not palatable or easy to swallow. There is a certain pride in people that causes them to give and give, but to come and accept a gift is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom; I will dedicate my life to service— I will do anything. But do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to realize that we canNOT earn or win anything from God through our own efforts. We must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us as long as we think we are sufficient in and of ourselves. We must enter into His kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are “rich,” particularly in the area of pride or independence, God can do nothing for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature of God is placed and made effective in us by the Holy Spirit. He imparts to us the quickening life of Jesus, making us truly alive. He takes that which was “beyond” us and places it “within” us. And immediately, once “the beyond” has come “within,” it rises up to “the above,” and we are lifted into the kingdom where Jesus lives and reigns (see John 3:5).

We must not forget that we need Jesus. Thats all. It can be that simple.