Truth #3 from Lies Women Believe is I am complete and accepted in Christ. I don't have to do anything to make myself acceptable to God. I can stand before Him, even though I'm a sinner, because Jesus is the acceptable sacrifice for me and I stand in Christ.
Ephesians 1:4-6 says "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."
When I think about being complete and accepted in Christ, I think of the phrase I learned from a Philip Yancey book years ago. "There's nothing you can do to make God love you any more. There's nothing you can do to make God love you any less." This is hard for me. I like to think of myself as a "good" person who does "good" things that would surely make God love me more. I think I should be able to earn his favor. But that's not the case. He chose me before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless; before I could even think about being "good". And that's why it's called GRACE. It's a gift; I didn't earn it; I don't deserve it. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." (Eph 2: 8-9)
I've also had to learn a lot about God choosing me. I grew up with more of an emphasis on the free will aspect of accepting what God has done for me and thinking that I had to go to Him to become His. And although I still don't totally understand the balance between the "free will" vs. "predestination" issue, God clearly tells us that He chose me before I was even born to be His. He did this because it brings Him pleasure and glory. Again, there is nothing I can do to earn this gift of his favor. My only hope is to cling to Christ, who is perfect. Through Him, God makes me pure and complete and freely gives me (and you) grace through the One He loves, His only Son Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment