On Grace, Faith and Works

Joyce Meyer always says that a lot of people feel that God is mad at them. I would take it further and say that most people, Christians and non-Christians, would say to God if they could find the words, "Nothing I do is good enough so why should I even try?" But the emphasis is not on what we can do, the emphasis of Christianity is on what Jesus ALREADY did! Amen!

Jesus paid for our sins past, present and future on the cross. FAITH is simply believing that he did.

In Galatians Paul chastises the church of Galatia and says "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?" Meaning, we are saved by grace...."It is by grace you have been saved, through faith...." but then once we are saved so many of us try to become sanctified by works; we shift the focus from what Jesus did onto what we can do. This is because of our pride. If we were truly humble we would receive Jesus' free gift without thinking we could PAY for it with anything we do. God said "all your righteous deeds are like filthy rags." So no matter what we might perceive to be a righteous deed, it is nothing compared to God's righteousness. Amen.

Faith is believing that Jesus already did everything that needed to be done to save us. Believing in God's grace is believing that God wants good things for us, that God wants to bless us because we are now his children, adopted into his family because of what Jesus did. It is out of this faith and believing in God's grace that we then live well. Our motivation has to be out of gratitude and not trying to earn God's love with our works.

Paul say, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That includes ANY sin that you commit now or tomorrow will not be able to separate you from the love of God. Why? Because God loves you NO MATTER WHAT.

The reason this is not emphasized in churches more is because there is a fear that people will then greatly fall into sin. If they start to think, "God loves me no matter what" then what will they do? That is why it takes a mature mind to be able to handle this kind of revelation. God does love you no matter what, BUT, he has a better life for you that does not involve sin at all. God loves you, yes, and that is why he wants you to live better. The dessert, or reward, is not in the sin, the dessert is in living a life well, having people respect you, respecting yourself etc. Forget the lies of Satan that sin is better. Sin leads to death. Life is better. Choose life. Amen. God bless!