grace – God's Word Girl

When Good is Not Good Enough

Discipleship 1:3

Photo by Monstera Production on Pexels.com

During my teenage and early 20 something years, I babysat a boy that I practically got to watch grow up. Though I don’t know where the family was spiritually, they did make reference to God often and were pleasant. I frequently took an Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories book to share with Ricky. He asked for them when I came and listened intently to the stories as was proved by his comments and his questions. I did my earnest best to gently share the love of God and his need for Him whenever and wherever I could.

He shocked me, though, when once he told me about an aunt that was a nun; there was no need for his personal salvation as her position gave him an automatic “in” to heaven. I couldn’t have been more floored. In fact, I repeated what he stated, which he confirmed, and asked if he believed it to be true, which he did. Until he made that comment, I didn’t realize that theology, if you wish to call it that, existed. Yeah, I’d battled falling into the performance trap based on my own merit, but never considered that my salvation hinged on someone else’s merit. It opened up a whole realm to me as to why people may take pride in having family members in “religious” service, no matter their faith, and why they may be so lack in nurturing their own spiritual well being. That’s problematic. I put that skewed notion right up there with the fellow student who told my girls that she was a Christian because she was homeschooled. ?! Uh, I don’t think so.

Today’s discipleship lesson is very closely related to something I recently posted entitled Approved and goes into greater detail about my battle with trying to earn God’s favor by my performance. When I was “good”, my relationship with God was “good”. When I fell short of expectations contrived by me or written in the Word, I often put myself into a corner and had a time of avoidance with Father because I felt like I disappointed Him. Wow. That hurt to write but there it is.

Generally speaking, if we ask anyone what one must do in order to be saved and go to heaven, they would most likely say, “Be a good person.” Then they may even go on to list what is considered good based on their own belief system. But in order to have a relationship with God and eventually make our home with Him in heaven, we’d have to have a righteousness that equals His. That, my friends, is impossible and that is what is so amazing about grace.

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, … Romans 3:21-23 NKJV

What does this mean? Man couldn’t nor can we even now keep the Law given through Moses. Our best attempts will never be good enough to earn salvation. The best attempts of those we may attach our salvation to will never be good enough. Only Jesus’ sinless life could put us in right standing with the Father. He bridged the gap. Grace, charis, undeserved favor was extended to us. And how do we obtain it?

“… through faith in Jesus Christ… “

“… and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;… Philippians 3:9 NKJV

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV

If we could earn our salvation be keeping the Law, by being “good”, then Christ died in vain. We cheapen His sacrifice by doing all we can do instead of leaning on what Jesus has done.

I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:21 NLT

Maybe it’s humanity’s weakness to lean on what we can do to maintain a good relationship with God. I link that to the original sin: pride. Do any of us really want to be dependent on someone else? I personally know of people who have caused physical injury to themselves because they did not want to ask for help. I myself have often pushed the ticket as to what I am capable of because I didn’t want to ask for help. We are never ever going to be good enough. No one person we may depend upon will ever be good enough. As the tax collector in Discipleship 1:2, we must humble ourselves before the LORD so that we may be forgiven and justified. Salvation comes through faith in Christ alone, period. Salvation is a gift waiting for us to open!

But—When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:4-5 NLT

To get the most out of this study, I suggest meditating on the scripture verses presented until the next post and taking the time to look them up in different versions. If you desire to go deeper, study key words in their original meanings.

At any rate, I hope you are blessed by this and that you will continue to join me. Until next time, blessings!

The Grace in Waiting

Photo by u00d6mer Derinyar on Pexels.com

Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
Blessed are all those who wait for Him. Isaiah 30:18 NKJV

Delays are not denials. Men would pluck their mercies green, thwarting the love and wisdom growing there, when the Lord would have them ripe … “Do not grieve Him by doubting His love. Lift up your head and begin to praise Him even now for the deliverance which is on the way to you, and you will be abundantly rewarded for the delay which has tried your faith….” ~ Adam Slowman “Expectation Corner” reprinted in Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Cowman.

“God is a wise husbandman,…He knows when we are spiritually ready to receive the blessing to our profit and His glory. Waiting in the sunshine of His love is what will ripen the soul for blessing. Waiting under the cloud of trial, that breaks in showers of blessings, is as needful. Be assured that if God waits longer than you could wish, it is only to make the blessing doubly precious….” ~Andrew Murray reprinted in Streams in the Desert.

Wait in the sunshine of His love.

But to you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;… Malachi 4:2a NKJV

Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper. 2 Chronicles 20:20b NKJV

Hear the Word of the LORD. BELIEVE. Be firmly persuaded. Believe solidly. Be established in the LORD and you will be established. Amen! — is another way of saying “it” — the thing, the word — is solidly, firmly, surely, verified and established.

Allow me to reiterate with Slowman: Delays are not denials.

In John 11 we find a man named Lazarus who was sick. His sisters sent word to Jesus saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” v. 3

Jesus’ response? “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” v. 4

Let’s look at this:

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. v .5, 6

Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be gracious to you;…

Be gracious is to be inclined to have compassion or bestow favor on someone. It is an attitude marked by compassion, generosity, kindness and a consideration that will refrain from further wounding the bruised and suffering.

When the days of Lazarus being dead are tallied up, he had already passed when Jesus got the message that he was sick. Jesus already knew that. He did not delay His going so Lazarus would die. He did not delay to punish or ignore the sisters. Then the age old question, Why?

“And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe.” v. 15

His delay was going to produce a greater miracle.

As soon as Martha heard Jesus was coming she went to meet Him. She declared that if Jesus had been present Lazarus would not have died. True. Then she made a profound statement:

“But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” v. 22

Do we have that kind of faith in the midst of our losses?

Even after their exchange, the one in which Martha stated that Jesus is the Son of God, she slightly wavered when He commanded the stone to be rolled away. Mind you, Lazarus had been dead FOUR days. The commentary I read said many resources say that the Jews in that day held the belief that the spirit of the deceased hung around for up to three days looking for re-entry, but four days? That exceeded all reason of explanation. Not only that, there is decomposition to consider.

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” v. 39

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” v. 40

Has Jesus said that to you concerning your situation? Do you believe? Are trial and time making you weary? I get it. The things I’m sharing here with you today, they are born of my own wrestlings, of entries in my own journal, and ruminations. I can relate to Martha’s slight hesitation, but I know that if I can hold on like she did, I will receive the greater miracle. And so will you. Beloved, Delays are not denials. There is grace in the waiting, and if we ask, He will reveal it to us.

Apparently she established her belief because they took the stone away. The next part of verse 41 is essential for victory:

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.”

That is reminiscent of this:

Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against (against their enemies);…and they were defeated. 2 Chronicles 20:22 NKJV (parenthesis mine)

These are the instructions in the great Book:

I will bless the Lord at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Psalm 34:1

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. Psalm 100:4

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Philippians 4:4

“But I can’t,” you say, “I am broken, crushed.”

You would have to read about David to appreciate all that he’d been through and it finally came to this: in I Samuel 30 we find that David’s ragtag army had returned to their city, plundered. Their refuge, burned. Their wives and children taken captive. The men who once stood with David were now talking of stoning God’s anointed.

Now David was greatly distressed,… v. 6a

Most likely an understatement, …

…But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. v. 6b

This was his choice of action before the verse was finished. And how do we strengthen ourselves? The joy of the LORD is our strength! (Nehemiah 8:10) We must refuse to allow our trials to swallow us whole and:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. James 1:2-4 NKJV

May we, like Martha, declare Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, and trust in His love, that He will perform the greater miracle for the glory of God, in His time. And may we, like Jesus, offer thanksgiving first. praise, Praise, PRAISE!

By the way, Lazarus was raised from the dead (v. 44) and, Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. v. 45

Join me in believing in Him . . . no matter how long the wait. Our commandment during the wait?

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NKJV

Approved

“For the law results in (divine) wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression (of it either).” Roman 4:15 Amplified Version

When I was a kid I was exposed to what one might describe as “holiness” or “fire and brimstone” preachers. We had one guy who came for revival on a regular basis that I thoroughly enjoyed. Actually, he kind of put me in mind of a human cartoon character what with being short, balding on top, eyes looking a little googly behind his glasses, and being animated. His voice even sounded cartoon like, what with his southern accent that sometimes sounded as if it was coming out from beneath water. He was engaging and brought humor as well as thought provoking, challenging messages. There was no boredom in the sanctuary when he came to town.

I suppose he did “circuits” when he came to our area but I did not see him outside of our home church, so when the opportunity came to hear him at a camp meeting elsewhere I jumped at the chance. He was still passionate but I came away feeling as though I’d been shot double barrel with condemnation; that hurt. This was not the same humorous, thought provoking evangelist that I revered.

I grew up with a sound, spiritual foundation. I was privileged to sit under phenomenal ministers, worship with congregants who truly loved the LORD, and experienced precious moves of Holy Spirit. Overall, I very much looked forward to attending church. It brought great joy and great examples of people living out their faith in front of me. I would not be the person I am today if it were not for the spiritual upbringing I had for which I am thankful.

This post is not to finger point or gripe but to present a subject that I suspect many people who have grown up on the pew inadvertently wrestle with. I don’t know, maybe this is something all of mankind is prone to, not necessarily those of us who’ve been raised in the church. I just thought maybe more so “religious” — and I’m intentionally casting the net wide with that term — people because the teaching of the Law, and religious rituals, is so prevalent. I welcome your thoughts. Regardless, the quote I’m going to share pertains to our opening scripture and it will make my point plain.

“Those who seek to keep the Law of God for the purpose of being justified in God’s sight will also release the wrath of God in their lives.” ~Andrew Wommack

As an adult, I came to realize that much of the fear I grappled with was because I was performance oriented. I was trying to pacify God and earn His favor and gifts by not sinning, so when I failed, I felt condemned and unworthy. According to Romans 6:14, as a follower of Jesus, I am no longer under the Law, but under grace.

Is that a license to sin? No way! Let’s be mindful of the fact, though, that sin does put space between us and God and gives the devil entry into our lives. But what if we did not let that take precedence in our mind? What if, instead of being consumed with keeping the Law to maintain our relationship with God, we would instead seek to maintain our relationship with God first? We would sin less by virtue of our close proximity to our Creator/Savior. Wouldn’t it be much more liberating to live a life where we are consumed with Love, knowing we’re accepted based on Jesus’ merit instead of our own? I think so. Join me today and ask God if our freedom is being prevented by any legalistic weed that needs uprooted.