…being justified freely by
His grace… —Romans 3:24
“We have to realize that we
cannot earn or win anything from God through our own efforts. We must either
receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest spiritual blessing we
receive is when we come to the knowledge that we are destitute. Until we get
there, our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us as long as we think we
are sufficient in and of ourselves. We must enter into His kingdom through the
door of destitution. As long as we are “rich,” particularly in the area of
pride or independence, God can do nothing for us. It is only when we get hungry
spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit. The gift of the essential nature
of God is placed and made effective in us by the Holy Spirit. He imparts to us
the quickening life of Jesus, making us truly alive. He takes that which was
“beyond” us and places it “within” us. And immediately, once “the beyond” has
come “within,” it rises up to “the above,” and we are lifted into the kingdom
where Jesus lives and reigns (see John
3:5).” CHAMBERS
When it comes to “doing” most
of us prefer to do whatever it is we are going to do, ourselves. At the inception of our new life in Christ is
grace, not self-effort. (Ephesians 2:8-10)
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Our salvation is not something we did. It is
supernatural. Yet, verse 10 says we were
created for good works. So here is what
I believe. Our old nature is sinful and
can offer nothing to the world or to our Father in heaven that has any eternal
value. If you are trying to be good or
do good by the power of your will … you are going to fail. The wrong thinking is that by doing right I
will be right. The correct thinking is
that by being right, I will do right. In
Philippians 3:8-9, Paul wrote “ What is more, I consider everything a loss
because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake
I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through
faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” There is nothing we can do that will make us
right with God. Nothing that we can do
that will “make Him happy”. We have
nothing to offer except what He desires the most .. the devotion of our hearts.
God can and will use us for
His glory, but many times people use Him for their own glory. (Matthew 6:2) “So when you give to the needy,
do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on
the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received
their reward in full.” Anything that you
do in the name of Jesus by the power of Spirit, is for the glory of God, the
Father. I am sure you have heard the
saying, “don’t shoot the messenger”. We
are all messengers. And in the same way, don’t give the messenger credit for something
that God has done. I can offer nothing …
I can do nothing on my own… that has eternal value … anything that comes from
my old nature. And I cannot take credit
for anything that springs out of my new nature.
So my point. Stop trying to do
good (it only leads to hypocrisy) and, instead, be good. If you want to make a difference in this
world, if you want to please the Father, it starts in the heart. ELGIN
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
Charley Elgin
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