July 2022
What is your default mode? As I wake up, my mind immediately spirals into what is not going right and what I need to do to make everything exactly as I want it to be. Next, I begin mental gymnastics, looking for loopholes and shortcuts that will get my desired results with the least amount of effort. In other words, I quickly fall into the wormhole of MY day, MY life, MY wants, MY “needs.”
It is my default, and it isn’t good.
Stop. Rewind. God has given me everything I need. His mercies are new each day. He blesses me extravagantly. He is the Creator of the universe, and He calls me his daughter.
Thank you.
God doesn’t love the way humans love. His love is unconditional. It is not based on what I do, whether I look good, sound good, or any other human criteria of “success.” His love is not a quid pro quo, nor is it about what I’ve done lately.
Unconditional Love.
My sinfulness is far deeper and much worse than I can ever imagine. I will never do enough to cancel my debt. There are no loopholes or shortcuts when it comes to God. The punishment of sin is death. And I am a sinner.
His love is far greater than I can fathom.
He does it all. He loves me so much that He sent his son to die for me (and you, too!) while I am still a sinner. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Unmerited Grace.
Years ago Tom did a series called Grace for Life, Grace for Living, and in this lesson, “Not Mostly Dead, but Completely Dead,” Tom taught on Ephesians 2:1-2: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ”
When we realize that each of us, at our core, is spiritually dead and incapable of changing on our own, we begin to see God for what He really is - The One and Only True God. The Alpha and Omega. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Then, and only then, can we begin to accept God’s love, grace, and unmerited gift of salvation. Ephesians 2:4-6 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
My default mode needs to change, plain and simple, to that of gratitude.
God does it all. Thank you, God. He sent Jesus to give me life. Jesus lived a sinless life and died on the cross for my sins. Thank you, Jesus.
Jesus did what I could never do. Through Him, I have life. Life to the full.
Thank you.
This 4th of July, as we celebrate our great country and the many freedoms we have, let’s also celebrate the freedom that Jesus has given us through his death on the cross – freedom from the bondage of sin, freedom from the wrath of God, freedom from eternal death.
Now THAT is freedom!