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Posts Tagged ‘grace’

Works vs Faith

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 27, 2011| 3 Comments »

Galatians 2:16 – nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus…….

We Christians sometime spend our time trying to obey the 10 Commandments and trying to do the right thing, when in actuality, we don’t need to be trying to keep the law at all.

We will go to church every time the door is open, tithe our 10 percent, we will not smoke, drink, dance, go to movies, we will look down and condemn those who do or do not do what we feel the Bible commands. We feel guilty every time we mess up and think God is going punish us if we do not do everything we know is ‘right’ to do as Christians.

What happened to grace? What happened to being saved through faith in Christ, and Him alone. Not Jesus and baptism, not Jesus and doing this or that, not Jesus and refraining from doing certain things. We are saved through faith in Christ and to be quite blunt, we do not ‘have’ to do any of these things or do not ‘have’ to avoid certain things to be a child of God. We have a freedom in Christ that was bought and paid for with the death and resurrection of Jesus. That does not mean we just live our lives doing whatever we want, but we living in the freedom we have through grace. We do things out of love, love for God and love for others. It is no longer out of obligation or trying to follow any law.LoveGod

Let’s stop putting all the rules and regulations on others that we think will make them better people and love them with the love of Christ and let God lead them in the way He wants them to go.

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Forgiveness

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , , on July 19, 2011|

Roman 6:10 – For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God….

Most of us ask for forgiveness at least once a day. Is it really necessary?

When Christ died, He died to sin ONCE for all. Jesus doesn’t die daily, He doesn’t need to come back and die once a year for our sins. Jesus died once and it was for our sins past, present and future. In God’s eyes, we are now righteous and seated in heavenly places with Christ.

Unfortunately we will continue to sin, but we don’t need to continually ask for forgiveness because we are already forgiven. What we should do is tell God we are sorry that we messed up and thank Him for the forgiveness He provided us through Christ.

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Confidence

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , on July 19, 2011|

Acts 4: 13 — now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

In our present day where everyone emphasizes a college education and so much specialized training, we need to remember that this is all man-made thoughts and ideas. It was obvious that Peter and John were uneducated and untrained in spiritual things, they were mere fishermen. They didn’t stand out, had no confidence in themselves, and felt they could not have any impact on their world. So many of us feel the same way today. We couldn’t afford college, we didn’t get into any specialized training of any kind, and we feel insignificant in our world.

The difference in this verse, and the difference in our lives is if we have been with Jesus. On our own, we really can’t do much. Some people do great things in life and make somewhat of a difference in man’s eyes, but when talking about eternal purposes and making a real difference in the lives of others, only those who accept Christ and spend time with Jesus have a noticeable difference to them that impacts others. In Christ we can have a confidence and a spirit of love that makes us different, loving and caring of others.

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Love

Posted in christian living, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 19, 2011|

1 John 4:7 NASB
For us Christ followers, love is the name of the game so to speak. God is love. If we know God and are born again, we live in love. We will love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and we will love others as ourselves. This is how they will know we are disciples of Christ, by our love for one another.

In the Old Testament the law was given as a standard to measure up to, a way to earn salvation. Basically to fulfill the law we had to be perfect. Of course, none of us could or can be perfect so the law was given to lead us to Christ. When Christ came, died and rose again, He conquered the law, sin and death and bought our salvation for us through His grace.

Now we no longer have to live trying to fulfill the law. This isn’t to say that we necessarily have to ignore what is written in the Old Testament, but we no longer have to try to live up to the law to earn God’s love and our salvation. We are no longer obligated to obey the law because we now live in love.

Just as a husband stays faithful to his wife because he loves her, not because it is wrong to commit adultery, so now we live our lives pleasing to God because we love Him and He loves us, not because we are afraid of the consequences if we break a law.

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God is Going to Get You for That

Posted in christian living, Kingdom of God, Lifestyles, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 19, 2011|

Talking recently with a friend of mine, I heard that he was upset because he wasn’t able to tithe to his church. I’m not sure if he was worried that God was going to punish him or not but it got me to thinking.

Many of us feel like we need to do something, such as tithing, church attendance, Bible reading, praying, helping the homeless, witnessing, being active in some type activity that makes us feel like we are doing something to earn God’s favor.

Thing is, God loves us just as a parent loves their children. Would a mother or father withhold their love from their son or daughter because they were not doing some particular act to earn that love? Of course not.

Am I saying that we do not have to go to church, we do not have to read our Bible, we do not have to tithe, we do not have to be in some kind of activity helping others……yes, that’s exactly what I am saying.

FatherChild

We cannot do anything to earn God’s love and we cannot do anything to cause God to stop loving us. God is love. We don’t earn His love by doing things or being a part of something. We accept His love through what Jesus did when He died for us. We he arose from the dead He conquered sin, death and the law and restored our fellowship with the Father.

The law was made to show us that we were unable to earn salvation on our own. Just as the Bible tells us that a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives, but when he dies she is loose from that union, so we as humans were bound by the law. The law showed us what we had to do to be perfect and also to prove to us that we were unable to live that way. When Jesus died and rose again, the law, the old testament way, was fulfilled and the new testament way of love and grace began.

We no longer have to live by the law. We now are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and love our neighbor (others) as ourselves. In this you fulfill the law. See Matthew 22:37-40.

Now of course obeying God and following after the way He leads you is important. We are to obey rather than sacrifice. The thing is we obey out of love, we don’t do things to earn our salvation or to keep from God’s punishment. God will watch over us and discipline us when needed just as a parent watches over their child and directs them in the way they should go for their own good and safety. But the parents, and God, do not sit around just waiting on their child to mess up, do something wrong just to punish them and make them pay.

We are now living in the freedom that Christ purchased for us through His death and resurrection. We no longer HAVE to perform and do things. He loves us. He will guide us and lead us in the way He wants us to go. I’m not saying we can be lazy and just sit around waiting on the day we die and go to be with God. Our faith and love for God will produce works but they will be works that God leads us into, and they are done out of love. What we now do is love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and love others as ourselves. Love, God’s love, is the fulfillment of the law.

Do what God leads you to do….out of love not out of duty. Seek His guidance and do not worry about what everyone else is doing. God will work in and through you in His own way and not the same way He works in someone else. God IS love. Live in love and enjoy the freedom we have in Christ.

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