Check out this stern passage:
Gal. 3:1-3 – ‘Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of His death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?’
Sometimes we get so caught up doing stuff, that we think we saved or cleansed ourselves (Prov. 20:9), or that God won’t like us if we don’t do this or do that. Yes, we are called to work out our salvation (Phil. 2:12) and abstain from things that might defile us (2 Cor. 7:1), but we must remember that it is Him doing the work in us (Phil. 1:6, Phil. 2:13, Heb. 12:1-3).
Understandably, we want to please God and so we strive to do the things He desires for us. However, the problem is when we get so burdened by our own effort that our failures then become so damaging to our walks.
We must remember that God loved us while we were utterly helpless (Rom. 5:6) and still sinners (Rom. 5:8). If then, He loved us at our worst, why do we for some reason believe that He loves us any less now that we’re striving to walk in the righteous path He has laid before us?
Ps. 37:23-24 – ‘The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.’
The above passage gives me comfort for many reasons, but for the sake of this meditation, we will focus on His delight. The LORD delights in the lives of the godly; He leads them in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake (Ps. 23:3).
Matthew Henry comments about Ps. 37:24, “God will keep them from being ruined by their falls, either into sin or into trouble.”
We are prone to wander and fall short of His glory, but rather than keeping our eyes on ourselves and our shortcomings, we should look at the One who saved us to begin with. Rather than wallowing in our weaknesses, we should glory in the strength of the LORD and the love by which He cleanses us and upholds us, even though we fall!
(Note: Our relationship with God should be Christ-centered, not me-centered.)
We should learn from Paul’s harsh rebuke to the Galatians; we must not substitute the fruit of our salvation for the reason for our salvation. Faithful works are a result of His work in us, and not the reason He works in us, otherwise by that logic, we must have done something to cause Him to save us in the first place (Eph. 2:8-10)!
There is much more that can be said about all this, but the point I’m trying to get across is that we must not get so consumed by our doing stuff ‘for God’ to the point that we forget that we are not justified by them. Enjoy the fruits of a regenerate heart, but place more priority on seeing and savoring God, and trust that as you do so, the fruit of your salvation will be birthed out.
Phil. 1:9-11 – ‘I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God.’
1 John 3:6 – ‘Anyone who continues to live in Him will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know Him or understand who He is.’
Have a blessed day brethren! ^_^
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(This is an excerpt from my latest book, ‘May The Meditations of My Heart…’ which is out now and available for purchase in paperback or eBook from Amazon and the iBooks store)
