no longer

our sin doesn't erase God's grace.

our sin makes grace come alive.

his grace makes us come alive.

his grace call us to live in obedience.

do i praise God for his grace without letting it transform me? 

whoa. stop right there for a hot sec. i love Jesus and am amazed at my God and am so incredibly thankful for his grace. but when i'm worshipping or thanking him in prayer...am i stopping there?? being a christian, a follower of Christ, means we die to ourselves. we become transformed. [Romans 12:2] oh, i pray that i let his grace change me. and i'm not talking a little tune up. i'm talking complete overhaul. every. single. day. because nothing in me is good. and everything from him is.

in the message version it says in Galatians 2:15-16...convinced that no human can please God by self improvement, we believed in Jesus as the Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting the Messiah, not by trying to be good.

do i believe that? that i can't please my way through life. that i can't please God enough by my good works. doing good works is a good thing...but it can't be the only thing.

and then it goes on to say...if i was "trying to be good," i would be rebuilding the same old barn that i tore down. there's a visual for ya. how true that is.

great grandmas farm. april 2012

i'm praying the words of verses 19-12...my ego is no longer central. it is no longer important that i appear righteous before you or have your good opinion. and i am no longer driven to impress God. to go back to the rule-keeping, peer pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal & free in my relationship with God.

amen.

i don't want to keep rebuilding the old barn that God wants to tear down. no longer, my friends. no longer.

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