Our Righteousness: Like Filthy Rags

Is my faith in my works or is it in Christ? Is it in God's goodness or in my own righteousness?
     
"The sorrows of those who run after other gods shall multiply..." (Psalm 16:4). When many hear the words "don't serve other gods", we automatically think about idols, money and people, but many of us are serving our works and we take joy in being good people... We worship our works in little sorrowful ways. The more we worship our works and we start believing that we are worthy or loved through them, the more restless we become and the more frustrated; and the moment we fail, the condemnation comes and our sorrow increases..
         
        Paul addressed this issue perfectly, "You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified!  The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?   Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?   Have you suffered so many things for nothing? – if indeed it was for nothing.  Does God then give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law or by your believing what you heard?" (Galatians 3:1-5)
     
         Do not get me wrong, faith without works is dead and we've been called to work out our salvation; but the Salvation itself is free, we did nothing to earn it. The thing that happens through our faith in Christ is godly deeds, a changed heart and a changed life. Our deeds/works cannot and will never save us, we can only be saved through our faith in Christ.

       Do you want to be considered "good" or "righteous" before God? Then put your faith in Christ for you can only be justified through Him; only through your faith in Christ can you receive the righteousness of Christ. "For our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" (Romans 4:24)

    And when it comes to working out your faith, look to Christ and learn from Him what it means to be godly. Let Him live His life of righteousness, humility, obedience, love and submission to God through you.

-Yetunde

Our Identity: Not Achieved, but Received!

This frees us from working so hard in order to gain others' approval or even God's approval (we've been approved by Him)... When we understand and know who we are in Christ, we'll start working FROM our identity and NOT FOR it. When we accept and believe in God's love for us, we'll no longer try to work FOR it but we'll walk and work IN His love; because He loves us, we should trust that He knows and wants what's best for us by obeying His word/teachings.. "God is our Father and a father does not tell his kids, 'if you do this, then I'll love you'"- Pastor Mark Driscoll... When we don't know who we are, we'll either start trying to conform into the image of what we think will make God approve of us or what will make the world accept us (The world or God: depending on who we're trying to serve)... Inevitably, we'll fail to keep up with this image which will most likely lead to condemnation, depression, feeling like a failure or feeling unworthy... Among being free in Christ, we are also chosen, God's special possession and heirs of His kingdom...

-Inspired by Pastor Mark Driscoll (James: Jesus' Bold Little Brother sermon series)

-Yetunde

Fear Is No Motivator

     Many of us are driven by fear rather than faith; when put in a situation in which we cannot see the end result, we start losing hope. We continue to put a limitation on what God can do by forgetting that God is not like man and our ways cannot be His ways. Many fail to look back to see how God has been faithful in the past so we don't have enough faith that He will do it again... There was a certain man in the bible that although he witnessed God's faithfulness, he gave in to his fear and failed to remember that God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Rather than having faith in God to do what He promised, he allowed his fear to motivate him into doing something that was totally against God's will for his life. That man's name is Jeroboam and he'll forever be known as the man that led Israel to sin...

     When King Solomon started building shrines for the gods of his many wives, disobeying the Lord's commandments and not following in David, his father's footsteps in integrity and uprightness of heart, the Lord declared judgement on him. God's judgement was to take 10 northern tribes out of Israel to give to Jeroboam; but based on God's promise to David and because He has decided to make Solomon king all the days of his life, this will happen only after Solomon's death (meaning that Solomon's son, Rehoboam, will be punished for his father's sins: He will be left with only one tribe to rule over:Judah/capital city: Jerusalem). (1 Kings 11:1-13)

     After God made His plans known to Jeroboam, that He would make him king over the 10 northern tribes that will be taken away from Solomon's son, God also made a promise to him: If Jeroboam would walk in the ways of the Lord and obey the Lord's commandments as David did, He will make the house of Jeroboam as David's. (1 Kings 11:26-38)
   
    Of course, when the time came, God fulfilled His promise and made Jeroboam king over the 10 northern tribes of Israel; but when the time also came for Jeroboam to trust in this same God, he failed.
   
     After God fulfilled His promise, Jeroboam became afraid that if he allow the people of Israel to go to Solomon's temple in Jerusalem to worship God, King Rehoboam(who rules over the capital city, Jerusalem) would plot with and turn the people against him. In his fear that the people will pledge their loyalty back to King Rehoboam and return to him, Jeroboam decided to set up his own system of worship for the people. He built two golden calves for the people to worship, appointed priests that were not Levites (the tribe ordained by God to be priests in Israel) and instituted a new day of festival for the people. (1Kings 12:25-33)

     In doing this, King Jeroboam led the people of Israel to sin against God and disobey God's laid down laws for worship. By acting on his fear rather than faith, this not only led to his downfall and him not receiving what was promised to him; but he also laid a terrible foundation for the kings that came after him.

     If only Jeroboam would've had enough faith that the same God that made the promise to make him king and fulfilled His promise, will also continue to protect his leadership and throne. If only he'd remembered God's faithfulness. If only he was motivated by his faith rather than fear.

     In this same way, in our fear or doubt, when many of us are put in certain situations, rather than having faith in God and seeking His face, we try to play God by doing things our own way. We sometimes fail to look to the author and finisher of our faith.

     The bible says that the righteous will live by faith (Hebrews 10:38)... Therefore let us have faith rather than fear. Let our faith in God motivate us into believing that God's plans for us are for good and not for evil and He will bring every promise to fulfillment. Let us believe that He who made the promise will not put us to shame.

     Do not let fear motivate you into being impatient or doing something that is against God's will for your life... But rather, be motivated by faith; let your faith lead you into trusting God, for fear is really no motivator.

"Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)
   
"And hope does not put us to shame. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love." (Romans 5:5)

I pray that this word will fall on a fruitful soil in our hearts and will grow to bear good fruits in Jesus name.

-Yetunde