By Lynn Heatley. I have been pondering the work of sanctification in our lives (sanctification is a big word that basically means the work/ongoing process of the Holy Spirit in our lives that brings our whole nature into being more and more like Jesus). As I have pondered this, I have thought of how so many seemed to have gotten stuck in this whole life process in their understanding and consequently, in their lives. And the “getting stuck” seems to be centered on two words: Receiving vs Earning.God, in His wonderful goodness, has some incredible gifts to give us through His Son. Gifts of unconditional love, forgiveness, acceptance, strength, friendship, guidance, hope and joy to name just a few.
There is nothing we can do to earn or merit these gifts from God. He gives them to us freely through His Son, Jesus Christ. Our part is to receive these gifts with gratitude, knowing there is nothing that we could ever do in our own actions that could ever deserve such wonderful gifts. Out of this receiving of His life and gifts to us, there is then a natural overflow that causes us to love our God in such a way that our lives are forever saying thank you in words and actions.
Where we seem to get stuck is when we mistakenly think that we have to first do the words and actions in order to get God’s gifts (kind of like putting in 40 hours of work first to then get your paycheck). There is no work that will ever earn such gifts. We must be brought to a place of humility where we know that nothing we could ever do could earn such gifts and thus we must come to that place of humble dependency where we have nothing to offer but simply to place ourselves in that position of extreme neediness and to ask for these gifts (given to us through the life of Jesus) and then accept them with gratitude. (Kind of like getting a paycheck before you have done any work….and no work is required…but you are so grateful for receiving this check that you want to give of your time and effort out of joy and gratitude).
Many are still trying to fulfill an internal requirement of duties to be worthy enough to receive His gifts. This will never happen as God says that there are no deeds that are good enough to earn His gifts. But if we could switch our thinking from trying to earn God’s gifts to being one who is absolutely dependent upon His mercy and love alone that gives His gifts to us, then we will be able to truly receive all that He has for us. And out of this place of receiving, our hearts and lives are changed because we know that we did nothing to deserve these gifts but by an act of extreme love, we became recipient’s simply by saying “ yes, I receive this.” Our gifted lives then cause us to want to live differently instead of trying to live our lives from some sort of rule book that makes us think we are earning our way to be accepted by God.
Grace (which means receiving God’s gifts apart from us doing anything) does not mean that works are not important, it is all a matter of the motives behind the works. Are we doing good works to earn God’s forgiveness and approval or because we already have this and can’t help but do things for the Love of our life and the One that we are incredibly grateful to?
May the Lord reveal His truth to all about such areas for it makes the difference between living a life of joy or living a life that is full of strife.
Some Quotes from God’s Word for Us to Ponder
“No one is righteous (good on the inside), not even one.” -Romans 3:10
“All of us are dirty with sin. All the right things we have done are like filthy pieces of cloth”. -Isaiah 64:6
“We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it – and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah (the only One who could save us) so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good. -Galatians 2:16
“For it is by God’s grace (undeserved acceptance and forgiveness) that you have been saved through faith (belief). It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can brag about it. God has made us what we are, and in our commitment and friendship to Christ Jesus, he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.” -Ephesians 2:8-10
“We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow (in word and deed) to the glory of God.” -2 Corinthians 4:14-15
“Friends, as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t waste one bit of this marvelous life God has given us (in other words, live your life in such a way as to say thank you to God for all that He has done for you).” – 2 Corinthians 6:1
Jesus says to us: “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you” John 14:15