What I Missed
Today I'm going to talk about something that took me a long time to realize. For the longest time, I thought that as a Christian, what you are supposed to do is live a good life (better than non-Christians) by the statutes in the bible. I thought you did this because Jesus died for you, so you should at least TRY to be good in return.
What I've come to realize is, that in actuality, Christians aren't supposed to try as hard as possible to live by the rules in order to be a decent person. By no means! Truthfully, we aren't even really capable to change ourselves. The reality is that Christ died for us, allowed us a personal relationship with Him, and through that HE changes us. Our focus should be on our relationship with Him and growing there instead of attempting to better ourselves on our own.
I used to not understand what people meant when they spoke of identity in Christ, but now, I think I do. Having your identity in Christ means who you are is because of your relationship with Christ, and you recognize that; you don't allow other transient aspects of your life to define you.
The aspect I had missed in all this was the aspect of His grace. By His grace, through a relationship with Him, He changes us, despite our human nature and our copious flaws. It's nothing we do that saves us, but it's Him. However, human nature says "I have to try to work for this myself," which is an ugly lie, which spits in the face of God's amazing grace.
What I've come to realize is, that in actuality, Christians aren't supposed to try as hard as possible to live by the rules in order to be a decent person. By no means! Truthfully, we aren't even really capable to change ourselves. The reality is that Christ died for us, allowed us a personal relationship with Him, and through that HE changes us. Our focus should be on our relationship with Him and growing there instead of attempting to better ourselves on our own.
I used to not understand what people meant when they spoke of identity in Christ, but now, I think I do. Having your identity in Christ means who you are is because of your relationship with Christ, and you recognize that; you don't allow other transient aspects of your life to define you.
The aspect I had missed in all this was the aspect of His grace. By His grace, through a relationship with Him, He changes us, despite our human nature and our copious flaws. It's nothing we do that saves us, but it's Him. However, human nature says "I have to try to work for this myself," which is an ugly lie, which spits in the face of God's amazing grace.
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