There are many things that God requires us to do as followers of Jesus.  But it’s important we understand that it is grace-driven effort and not human effort that enables and encourages all of our obedience, service and every form of performance as Christians.  We do everything secure in grace, by faith in grace, through reliance on grace and in gratitude for grace.   His work saves us before we do our work.  His work guides us to do our work.  His work gives us power to do our work.  His work makes us happy to do our work.  Let us remember… Whatever the will of God calls us to do, the grace of God will cause us to do.

When was the last time you gave up something for the sake of someone else? In other words, their gain required your loss because in order to help them you had to… Sacrifice money.  Sacrifice time.  Sacrifice sleep.  Sacrifice comfort.  Sacrifice plans.  While it’s good to do good at any time, there are many times that in order to be the hands and feet of Jesus, we will also need to have the self-giving heart and mind of Jesus too.  We are to show up and speak up for others not just when it’s easy, convenient and fun, but also when it’s hard, troublesome and unpleasant.  This is how we are loved.  This is how we are to love.

When we are moved by the mercy of God shown to us in Christ, we will move to show it to others.    The merciful extend forgiveness for sin and kindness in suffering to the people around them because they have experienced it themselves.  They have soft hearts, not hard ones.  They have reaching hands, not folded ones.  They have loving mouths, not condemning ones.  This is only possible when the God of mercy takes our natural inclination to be intolerant or indifferent and supernaturally infuses us with His delight to do good to the needy.  Today, let us ask Him to help us deal with others like He deals with us.

The most rewarding thing we can ever do is admit our lostness, helplessness and unworthiness to enter God’s kingdom, and depend completely on His mercy and grace.  When we acknowledge our need for God and turn to Him in faith, we are given access to His kingdom and all of its benefits for us in Christ. The kingdom of heaven has a King … and it’s not you or me.  It’s an infinitely wiser, stronger, kinder King who rules over the lives of His people for their good and unleashes so many blessings on them that it will take an eternity to experience them all.  We get a foretaste for now and a feast forever. All hail King Jesus!

People who love Jesus repent by making war against their sin instead of making excuses for it.  Because His pardon is given to us, and His power is with us, and His presence is in us, we can be honest about our sin, and we can be victorious over it.  We have been forgiven.  We are free.  We can be faithful. Therefore, let us strive for holy living while resting in the grace of God, remembering and rejoicing over this truth:   what Jesus has done for us on the cross is sufficient to both cleanse and correct our transgressions.  Because of grace we don’t give up in our fight against our sinfulness; by grace we get up and fight on.

Jesus is our security… He laid down His life on the cross so we can be forgiven and freed from the one thing that can truly threaten us, our sin.  He rose from the dead to defeat the one thing that we could never safeguard against, our mortality.  He sits in the position of power and authority to rule for good the one thing that we struggle to control, our lives.  He prepares for us a place and an inheritance to be enjoyed forever by ensuring the one thing that we cannot, our eternity.  He promises to provide all we need until He brings us safely to the one thing in our future that we long for most, our home with Him.

Every Christian faces the ever-present danger of distraction, frustration, and temptation to become preoccupied with things that don’t matter, things that don’t satisfy and things that don’t last.  That’s why Christian community is so important in helping each other keep the faith and keep our focus.   Let us… Spur each other on to good works for Jesus.  Strengthen each other with good news about Jesus.  Support each other with good deeds like Jesus.  By His grace and in His love… We must continually encourage each other to follow Jesus because the world is continually encouraging us not to follow Him.

One of the ways that God changes us to become like Jesus is through hardships.  We struggle to find answers on our own, we worry and doubt and fear often, we fall short over and over again, and we feel like many tasks in front of us are impossible.  But, in time we learn to turn to and trust in the wisdom, strength, and grace of God as He transforms us into people of faith through our struggles. Hardships can be like hard workouts, strengthening us and shaping us for the better.  As we face struggles, let us not forget this: sometimes God will change the situation; sometimes God will use the situation to change us.

Know this: everyone is a believer.  There is no one who is not a believer.  We all believe in something.  Even to disbelieve in one thing is to believe in another.  All of life’s desires, decisions, and deeds flow from one of two basic beliefs:  we believe that we need Jesus, or we believe that we do not need Him.  Want to know what you believe in?  Look at your life.  You will pin your hopes upon your beliefs, devote your time and resources to your beliefs, look for happiness in your beliefs, find your sense of well-being in your beliefs, and stake your life on your beliefs.   The question is: do you believe in Jesus in that way?

Loving others includes being happy that they are happy … unless the source of their happiness is sin.  People can find happiness in things ranging from cheating on a test to cheating on a spouse, hurting themselves through addictions to hurting others through mistreatment, and ignoring family needs to ignoring God.  This is not the time to be happy for them; it is the time to help them. We should support: Godly ambitions, but not selfish ones.  Godly affections, but not sinful ones. Godly actions, but not senseless ones.  Let us encourage each other to be happy in ways that will not be regretted in the end.

Christians should know two feelings better than anyone else:  conviction and celebration. We must never lose sight of this:  our sin is great.  We must never lose hope in this:  our Savior is greater.  A right response to our unfolding transformation as we follow Jesus in faith is the ongoing rhythm of repenting of our sin and rejoicing in our salvation.  We were guilty, yet acquitted.  We were undeserving, yet rewarded. We were trapped, yet freed.  May we know the humbling, exalting experience of knowing both our sinfulness and our Savior.  Let us be glad in this: Our sin may have begun our story, but the grace of God will end it.

People often reject the gospel because they would rather rely on good advice for what they need to do rather than receive good news about what Jesus will do for them.  Humans love self-help strategies that promise you can fix yourself until they inevitably find that these strategies don’t actually help self.  Well-meaning sayings like toughen up, lighten up, buck up and cheer up are just a set up that make us want to give up.  Real, lasting change will only come when we ask God to begin and complete His good work in us so we can live by His power.  He’s ready, willing and able to do it if we’ll stop trying to do it ourselves.

Many people feel like their prayer isn’t “working” so they barely or rarely pray at all. Prayer, as with all of life, should be about God being honored in us and us being happy in Him. This is why we are to pray for… The hallowing of His Name.  The coming of His kingdom.  The doing of His will.  This results in His glory and our good! Know this… Prayer isn’t about filling up our kingdoms with what we think will make us happy; it is about being filled up by all He offers in His kingdom so we can actually be happy.  You can be sure of this:  the prayer that “works” is the prayer that “wants” all that God has for us in Jesus.

Day after day He says it.  Day after day He shows it.  God lets us know He loves us in countless ways if we will listen and look for it.  Sometimes it sounds like a plea for repentance or a call to faith or an invitation to serve or a warning of danger or a word of encouragement.  Sometimes it looks like a timely-met need or a quiet moment to rest or a special time with loved ones or a normal day with food, clothing and shelter.  But most verbally and visibly… It sounds like “A Savior is born,” “It is finished,” and “He is risen.”  It looks like a manger, a cross and an empty tomb.  God speaks and shows His love best through Jesus.

There is nothing that I have which was not given to me.  Everything about who I am and what I do that is good is a gift from God at work in me, for me and through me.  Every ability I possess.  Every resource I use.  Every opportunity I take. Every person I serve.  Every task I complete.   I am what I am by the grace of God.  I do what I do by the grace of God.   It is the provision and power and presence of Jesus with me that makes everything possible.  Here is the one thing I know to be true, the one thing I count on every single day, the one thing I will say about any good that comes from my life:  Not I, but Christ in me.

There is a heavenly scene that should run through our minds often as we run the race of life.  When we grow weary from serving, we should think of it.  When the good we do doesn’t seem to be doing much good, we should think of it. When the risk or sacrifice of living out our faith is high, we should think of it. Here’s the scene:  We cross the finish line.  We see the smiling face of Jesus.  We fall down before Him.  And we hear Him say “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of your master.”  Know this… Every long day.  Every hard day.  Every costly day.  In that moment, it will all be worth it.

There are days when our biggest battle is against unbelief.  We start to doubt that God cares about what is happening to us and that He is going to do anything about it.  To battle unbelief, we must remember God’s faithfulness in the past and remember God’s promises for the future.  He has always taken care of us, He is taking care of us, and He will continue to take care of us.  Defeat your doubts by remembering today that He has a good reason for what He has allowed into your life and that He is actively working it out for your good. God cares about what is happening to you, and God will show His care for you.

A heart that worships God strives by grace to put God at the heart of everything else.  We increasingly, though imperfectly, want Him to become the center of what, when, where, why and how we do what we do. Our adoration of Him overflows into allegiance to Him.  Our gladness in Him leads us to do what will glorify Him. Our love for Him compels us to live for Him.  Worship changes how we think about our time, money, relationships, priorities and life purpose, and how we carry out the plans of God for us concerning these things.  May God produce in us today both a delight to praise Him and a desire to please Him.

Freedom is always from something and to something else.  If you are trusting in Jesus, He has set you free from a life of shame, regret, joylessness, emptiness, addictions, fear, pride, doubt, lusts, sin and eternal death at the end.  And He has set you free to a life of honor, joy, contentment, victory, humility, security, faith, peace, hope, love and eternal life at the end.  You are free from sin’s cruel rule to be happy in Jesus now and forever! To experience His freedom, simply abide in His words, depend upon His Spirit and feel His presence with you. Today, don’t live as if you are still in chains.  You have been set free.

The world wants us to make small things big and big things small.  It wants small fears to rule our hearts, petty disagreements to sabotage our relationships, and trivial matters to dominate our schedules.  It wants the seriousness of sin to be downplayed, the importance of living for eternity to be minimized, and the amazing availability and role of God’s grace in our everyday lives to be underestimated.  But, praise God, we don’t have to live like that!  Jesus has redeemed us from a life of smallness and sinfulness so we can live for bigger and better things.  Today, by grace, let us keep big things big and small things small.