Vida4U “His Workmanship”
Ephesians 2:8-10
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:14-16
Christ Our Peace
For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
Ephesians 3:16-19
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
We are now in a New Year (2020) and the well used saying of “Happy New Year” invites hope of change and for some maybe a new beginning. However, and not meaning to pop anyone’s bubble, if nothing has changed what is this hope based on? How or what will cause this change? It will be a new year, but are we bringing the same old luggage into it?
It would be nice if our hope for a New Year would be based on something solid, not just hope for the sake of hoping;
The verses above give us this solid type of hope. We just finished our series on “Who I Am,” which is packed full with hope. As we change our identities to what our Lord says we are, (through hearing and reading the Word), we are being transformed into beings of righteousness (we get new luggage). This may sound a little “churchie” but it is exactly the goal of the Holy Spirit within us… To deliver us from our carnal nature and bring Christ nature. As this happens we are becoming beings of righteousness.
We just had Christmas and there were gifts exchanged. Gifts that were not earned but given in love. Salvation is a gift given in love and not based on our actions. It is so hard for us to understand this. We are so use to earning our way. We have talked about this many times, and it has taken me hearing it many times as a young man for it to finally sink in. It became so freeing when it did.
Let’s do a test and see how many of us still struggle with Unmerited Grace. Here’s the storyline, I am (you are) planning on having a Bible study at lunch (my normal time) and it’s ten o’clock right now. However I have had a stressful morning so far with one more meeting to go to. In the meeting something’s are said to me and I lose my cool and say things I should not have said. Meeting adjourns and I’m feeling pretty bad for losing my cool, but to make things worse a co-worker that I have been witnessing to walks up to me and says, “I thought you said you were a Christian and you trusted God. I sure didn’t see that in the meeting,” and then walks away, now it’s lunch. I have two choices; I can come to God, or I can stay away.
If I stay away it’s telling, if I come to Him it’s telling; what would you do? If you stay away you are basically saying you do not feel worthy to go to God, and your right, your not. If you go to Him you go knowing already that you are not worthy, but that’s why He died, to cover our sins (none are worthy). The Worthy for the unworthy and in gratefulness for His unmerited love and grace, we come. Humbled and ashamed yes, but we come because He is our only hope for change. Now pause and think, if this really happened what would you do?
I find that that people, generally speaking, who had good relationships with their parents are more apt to go to Him than those of us that did not. It’s much easier to accept God’s love when we have been unconditionally loved by our earthly parents. It’s much, much easier to say, “I know I’m not worthy, but His Grace and His Love covers me and I am so ever grateful for it. His Holy Spirit in me is His guarantee that He has bought me AS IS. However His Holy Spirit and His conviction in me is His notice that He is not going to leave me as I came.
With a demanding, strict, or absent dad we grow up oftentimes feeling that we were never loved. We may not even know we feel this way. Subconsciously or consciously we feel that we had to earn our parents love. Now as adults, we struggle with approaching the Lord. Subconsciously we transfer these same emotions to our Heavenly Father and He is nothing like our earthy parents. We consciously must take control of these thoughts and emotions, or we will live our whole life feeling like an orphaned child (which could not be farther from the truth.)
Typically what happens is when we are doing good it’s easy to believe God loves us, but forget it when life goes south. We get upset or angry, say a few choice words, lose our cool with our child etc., and now we feel unworthy. It is so hard to approach God when we are merit based believers. I know people who for years have struggled with this. Reading God’s Word is a huge struggle for them. Everytime they attempt to read, to approach God, some stressful situation occurs and they lose it. Their thinking is “why would God want me? It’s a terrible treadmill and stronghold that the enemy has on them.
The bigger question is why does God want any of us? I have been a believer for forty years and still do not have the answer to that question, if the answer has to be based on our merit. The only true and lasting answer is the one He gives us in John 3:16, and we all know it “ For God so loved the world (us) that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever would do good works, pray 10 times a day, and read a chapter a day and of course believe on His Son would not perish but have ever lasting life.” Is that what it says? No, of course not! However based on our actions that’s how we read it. What the scripture really says….,
“ For God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life,” that’s what He says, and Amen to that. Christmas started with Him first.
The real question is will we humble ourselves before Him and accept His love based on no merit, or effort, or good deeds on our end. We can bring nothing to the table, our good deeds are like dirty rags to an utterly Holy God. He brings it all, Love, Forgiveness, Righteousness, Eternal Life, Wisdom, Joy, Peace, Grace etc., and seeks to give it to us. Will you receive His Gifts? If you say yes, that is faith,( that is the only thing we bring) and you are now Born Again, welcome to the Eternal Family of God. Praise God!! We are all a bunch of misfits, with broken pieces but we are His misfits and He specializes in misfit repairs. 🙂
Isaiah 64:6
But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind,
Have taken us away ( but not now, we have Jesus!)
If you know any one who struggles with unworthiness, just love them and pray for them. They are believers, they are just working with more broken tools than the rest of us. Encourage them forward. We don’t need to tell them what they should do, they probably already know. Also keep in mind that they probably feel like something is wrong with them because everybody else they know has no problem reading their Bible or approaching God (the influence of good parents is paramount to raising kids that will seek the Lord). Speak a few words as lead by the Holy Spirit to these individuals, words of encouragement and support, and from time to time have them repeat what you said. Most of the time your kind words won’t sink in (at their core they are unable to believe), or it gets reinterpreted. They may never be completely healed on this side of Heaven, but they will be beautiful on that side.
What’s not being understood is that we are never “worthy enough” to approach an utterly Holy God on our own merits. This lie of needing to be worthy is such a stronghold. There is no amount of goodness or sacrificial deeds, even dying for our fellow man could ever be equivalent to the Holiness of God or the powerful Redemption offered to us from the Cross. Being able to atone for mankind’s sins and redeem us from ours can only be a God thing. It is so far beyond human measure or means and it is so costly that it must be given as a GIFT, for none of us could receive it otherwise.
Anything else I feel that I must do for my salvation other than faith in Christ is our ignorance. We are completely unaware of the complexity and completion of the Cross. To ever think that I could have God love me, or accept me more after He has given His life for me is simply a deception that needs to be destroyed. My Wealth Is The Cross, it’s gift to me is what makes me a wealthy man, making me a son of the Great King and Savior Eternal. What more could anyone want?
Through the hassles of the day and life in general we lose sight of this great truth that through the promises and blood of Christ we have Heaven as our hope and future. In the worst and darkness nights I have kept this truth and the hope it brings has never failed to encourage me and given me strength to see my trials to their end.
The most important part of salvation is that it’s a gift, as stated. His atonement for us covers our past, present and future life. This gift is set, it will not be taken back. Separation anxiety is a fear that occurs when the person paramount in your life keeps going and coming in and out of your life. That will never happen to one who puts their trust in Jesus. In fact, since the Holy Spirit comes to take up residence inside you, wherever you go He goes and whatever hardships or times of jubilation you experience He’s there. He’s the best parent and friend ever. Get to know Him.
“it is the gift of God (Salvation), not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are HIS handiwork “being” created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Amen.
Father God,
Such a rich Grace You have bestowed on us. Help us to press into You and not be lead astray or fooled by the trinkets of this world or the methodology of this world – the earn and pay system. Let us be children of Grace, in love with You far above anything else. Be with those we love who are not walking with You, save them Father. In Christ name, Amen.Go Forward In His Grace and truly because of Him it can be a Happy New Year – Arthur
Arthur Navarrette
Vida4U.com is the website where all past Vida’s are archived. In addition to the weekly devotionals, the yearly inspirational writings featured in December’s House2Home Magazine are archived under “Faith Talk.” Please use this site for your benefit and refer your friends to it as well. If they would like the weekly series emailed to them, they can send their requests to Arthur@Vida4U.com.