Has He Started A Good Work In You?
Has God started a good work in you? How can you and I know that we have received God’s grace? There are two really good indicators that your faith in Him is genuine: you have a growing hatred for sin and a growing love for Jesus. You don’t just want to be free from the consequences of sin, but sin itself. You don’t just want to have the blessings of God, but God Himself. There is a desire that begins growing inside of you to experience all that God has for you, in this world and the one to come. You believe in Jesus for the first time, and then you believe in Him more fully over time. We grow. That’s how we know.
Relying On And Resting In Grace
We’re given… New identities. New desires. New lives. New futures. Christians have a faith in Jesus that is demonstrated by loving obedience, though imperfectly executed. That means there is grace to help us get this right, and there is grace to help us when we get this wrong. Our entire spiritual journey is one in which we rely on grace to take steps of faith in living as God intends for us, and in which we rest in that same grace when we take mis-steps knowing that God won’t give up on us. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith, and we can be sure of this: God will finish what He starts in us.
Faith Is Saying Yes And No
Faith is saying “yes” to God’s grace by agreeing with Him that you’re a sinner who cannot do anything to make yourself good enough to be accepted by Him, and then by asking Him to begin a good work in you to increasingly change you into a radically new person that is acceptable to Him. Faith is also saying “no” to our old lives of indifference and rebellion to God by turning away from them to Him. We mean it when we say of our sin: “I did it. I regret doing it. Help me not to do it again. Lead me to something better in you.” When that happens… God doesn’t just give us different lives; He makes us into different people.
Grace Poses A Question
Grace is God’s answer to the question of how sinners like you and me could ever be welcomed into His presence, His family and His blessing. Then, grace poses a question for us to answer: will you receive it? The gospel of grace is only good news if it is true, if you are included in it, and if you believe it. It is true. You can be included. Do you believe? You can have it all if you believe that Jesus is Who the Bible says He is, that Jesus did what the Bible says He did, and that Jesus will deliver all the Bible says He will. Grace leads us to Jesus. Faith leads us to follow Jesus. Nearness leads us to love, enjoy and become more like Jesus.
It’s Not About Your Doing Or Deserving
You can’t afford it; but it’s already paid for. You can’t earn it; but it’s freely given. You can’t secure it; but it’s always available to you. God’s grace has countless implications and applications for everyday life and eternal life, ranging from getting good things to getting through bad things to getting to the best things. There is grace for you to have the life of real contentedness that you’ve always wanted. And that’s just the beginning, for His grace will expand and extend throughout eternity. All you have to do is … Want it. Ask for it. Receive it. Enjoy it. Grace isn’t about your doing or your deserving; it’s about God giving us His gifts.
The Final Word
Don’t listen to what the world says. Don’t listen to what a loved one says. Don’t listen to what your heart says. At least, don’t let what those sources say be the ultimate guiding voice in your life. They will often tell you what you want to hear even if it’s not for the best, they often aren’t interested in what is for your best, and they often simply don’t know what is the best. Only the truth-telling, love-bestowing, all-knowing God will unfailingly guide you into what is best for every decision, situation and action. That’s why it’s so important that we read the Bible often to hear Him speak into our lives. Today, let God’s Word have the final word.
When Someone Wrongs Us
The normal response is to burn with vengeance inside. The natural reaction is to bring on vengeance outside. When someone wrongs us, we often desire to make things right by making them pay for their wrongdoing. But Jesus modeled a different way of handling the hurts of others. The way of love. The way of forgiveness. The way of grace. This doesn’t mean we skip appropriate justice for serious wrongs; it means we show appropriate pardon for petty ones. And in all wrongs, big and small, we pray the wrongdoers will find their way to Jesus so He can change their hearts and lives for good. Just as He changes ours.
Inviting Others Into Our Joy
One of the primary aims of Christianity is to invite as many people who are far from God into the joy that we have in Him so they can experience it with us. To fight the good fight, finish the race and keep the faith means not only enduring in the gospel ourselves until our homecoming, but also equipping others with the gospel so they can fight on, race on, and keep on when we have gone on, until there is no place left that has not heard the good news of Jesus. A life well-lived is one in which we press on in the faith ourselves and pass on the faith to others so that God is honored in more of us and more of us are happy in Him.
He Opened His Mouth And Taught Them
“And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying…” – Matthew 5:2
When Jesus makes promises, you can count on them to come true. When Jesus gives commandments, you can count on Him to help you. When Jesus transforms hearts, you can count on it changing what you do. The Beatitudes are not a suggestion for how should you live in order to earn your way into His kingdom, but rather a description of how you will live if you have already entered His kingdom. By grace, through faith, producing good works, with love, in power, for joy, to the glory of God. You can have assurance that you are on the right path if there is evidence that you are walking with Jesus on it.
Blessed Are Those Who Are Persecuted For Righteous …
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:10
When we pursue God’s way instead of the world’s way, we will find people in our way. Opposition. Persecution. Separation. There will be those who push back and push away because of our allegiance to Jesus. But we can rejoice! For no matter what it costs us now, we will gain infinitely more in the end with the coming of His kingdom of eternal rewards for those who love Him and remain faithful to Him. By His grace, let us keep doing right, keep doing good and keep doing the things that honor our Savior. If others are going to be offended by us, may it be because of our righteous acts and not our sinful ones.
