Day 2526 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.


John 13:35 NIV

What if instead of spending our lives trying to earn something that we've already been given we set our minds on proving that we've received it? That's something that has been on my mind for a little while now. I think we all wrestle with those thoughts and questions about whether or not we're doing enough, doing what's right, and what we can be doing better. But we can't afford to let ourselves become the only mission we're working on.

It's good to evaluate our lives and seek out those areas we have that need some work. But as we've been talking about lately, falling into this mindset that tells us that we have to work for God's love is a dangerous and simply worthless place to go. It can quickly lead us to wondering and maybe even believing that we've not yet received His forgiveness. After all, we wouldn't be trying to work for it if we were confident in the fact that His grace is enough and that He has already given it to us.

Spending everyday living in doubt and giving into this feeling that we need to focus on ourselves so that we get ourselves lined out only keeps all the focus on us. Every second is spent looking for ways to make ourselves better. But there's just so much more to this story and these lives. God didn't put us in a sea of faces and offer us His light for us to just swim off by ourselves and let everyone else take care of themselves.

No, He put us here, surrounded by countless people so that we could do something with the light and love that He has given us. So rather than working to earn something we've already got, maybe we should focus instead on living our lives in such a way that proves we really believe in this salvation that our faith provides. Maybe we should pour our time and energy into helping others realize that God's love is there for all of us.

Maybe we should finally allow ourselves to understand that by loving others and sharing the Gospel with them so that they too can find rest and peace in Christ, we're actually doing this work that we feel the need to do. We're actually doing something that will not only help others, but it will help us too as it solidifies our faith and helps us finally see just how strong our faith can really be.

The whole point is that we're not here to build ourselves up into these perfect beings that are assured of some eternal reward that we feel we've earned. We're here to help others find the hope that we've found in something that none of us deserve. We're here to share Christ with the world and doing so will help us feel that fulfillment that we've long thought was in perfecting our own lives.

It's only when we turn our attention outward that we can finally see that often times what we're missing just isn't found in us. Jesus doesn't ask us to live our lives to prove to the world that we're worthy of His grace. He calls us to live our lives to prove to the world that we've found the only source of love, hope, peace, mercy, and healing that there is. He calls us to show the world just how much our faith means to us and to help others find their way to Him so they can be changed for the better as well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 2016 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Matthew 6:20 NIV Yesterday I posed a very big question: have you ever thought about the vastness of eternity? I'm just afraid that so many people are living for these lives only, and that's going to lead to quite a shock when we reach the end of this leg of the trip only to find that something else really does come next. So I just want to encourage everyone to take today's verse to heart. This is one that my mom likes to quote and share quite often. And it's really a very important lesson that everyone needs to learn and always keep in mind. While we're surrounded by all kinds of messages, things, wants, and desires, we need to always keep our priorities in line. We can't afford to let ourselves become distracted by all the wares that our world offers up. The thing that I think we've fallen for is this idea of value. We're told that all this worldly stuff is highly valuable. Now if that's the case, then we automatically think that having it or going
Read more

Day 2018 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Luke 6:27 NIV I was presented the chance earlier today to experience one of those amazing opportunities to realize that I'd been wrong. You see my family and I had bought some Bibles to send to a couple of people, and we just hadn't gotten around to sending them yet. Since the time that we bought them, we kind of had this weird and unfortunate falling out of sorts with one of them. And I'm embarrassed to admit that it had me second guessing whether or not to send the gift.  Seeing as how this difference of opinion has gone, I had gotten it in my mind that I didn't want to send something to someone only for them to throw it away. But all along, my mom has been there saying no, we need to send it anyway. And today, we finally got them boxed up and sent out. But if anything, I may have ended up getting the biggest gift out of everyone involved. We don't get to decide who is worthy of our kindness. We don't get to pick and choose who we're going to do good thing
Read more

Day 3362 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Image
Matthew 15:8 NIV It seems as though perhaps the distance from our heads to our hearts is, at times at least, much the same as the separation we so often feel between here and hope. For though our lips are geographically close to the hearts which pound inside a craving for more than we can say we need, say we know, yet sadly despite their being so near to our knowing what we need, we find that our mouths and our hearts are existing as if in two foreign places. Because while our heads may hold lips that let on that we know we need Heaven's hope as having come in Christ, our hearts remain among the ultimate deceivers as they lead us daily back into the brink wherein we break away all over again into disbelief as designed inside a heart’s desires kindling fires forsaking that faith which yearns only for a fellowship with He who is everything we could ever need. Indeed, it seems to matter not what our tongues here confess as our hearts head us always into following the path our mouths c
Read more