Not About Me

During a youth service last year, I heard a pastor say, “The hardest thing about the Christian faith is believing and receiving what God says about you vs. what you know about yourself.” I really love this quote because I think it is so true in our lives, including mine!

Every time you TRY to please God, you’ll mess up. That statement may sound discouraging, but I do not say it to make you feel bad about yourself. I mean to say that we are His children NOT because of our behavior. We are God’s children because He loves us enough to allow us this inheritance. And most importantly, He loves us, because He loves us!! The key word here is GRACE!

Grace calls a sinner, a saint! :)

But even though our attempts to please God are destined to fail and we are covered by God’s grace, this does not mean we are not called to follow and obey Him. The road of Christ’s children is narrow but it is the way of faith. In addition, the way of faith is all about believing what Christ has done for you and in you.

The wonderful thing about grace is that it is not about what we can do, but accepting and receiving what Christ has ALREADY done for us. It is a gift – it has nothing to do with us!

Ephesians 2:4-9 – “4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.”

You will be changed/transformed when you start believing what God thinks about you. May we believe with confidence that we are who God says we are!
Romans 5:8 – “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

In Christ,
Shannon

“Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)” by Chris Tomlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqJsBRFdrA0