Today in Chapel a pastor from an evangelical church in Fort Langley came to speak to us about freedom in the Lord. See, I love talking about freedom in God, because its something that I feel so many Christians don't fully understand. But today, I realized that I didn't even fully understand it either.
We went over a part of Paul's letter, Philippians 3. He goes over so much in this chapter, but the pastor who was speaking to us was concentrating on whats it had to do with our freedom fround in Jesus.
Paul starts that he was "circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal,persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless." BUT because of the glory of Jesus, none of that mattered anymore. It counted as nothing. He was looked at as righteous and acceptable not because of what He had done, but because Jesus made him righteous and acceptable.
So often, I find that I am striving to be better for God, looking for his approval, hoping that at the end of the day when I ask, "How good was I today??" that I can hear that I did well. But so often, when I ask that question all I can hear are the voices of the sins I committed that day, the opportunities to show love and kindness that I skipped over, the times I ignored what God might have been saying to me, the times I was too lazy to pick up my Bible during the day even when I felt the nudge to do so, all the ways in which I feel like I fell short. Then, all I can feel is disappointment. And there is an option for the other extreme, where I feel pride over how "good" I was today, where the praise is to me instead of to Jesus. This question always leads to either to pride or to striving and shame, and its focus is always on ourselves.
But the thing is, that is never the question we should be asking ourselves at the end of the day. Because what God thinks of you isn't dependent on you. Let me say that again.
What God thinks of you isn't dependent on you.
Your acceptability to God is not dependent on what you have done. It is dependent of what Jesus has done. He has made us acceptable. He has made us clean. So at the end of the day, we should not ask "How good was I today?", but "How great is my God?" Because when we do that, our days will be concluded in a time of worship and thanksgiving, instead of in spirit of shame and disappointment. When we say, "Regardless of how I was today, my God is great", then there is worship, and there, there is freedom.
So often, I find that I am striving to be better for God, looking for his approval, hoping that at the end of the day when I ask, "How good was I today??" that I can hear that I did well. But so often, when I ask that question all I can hear are the voices of the sins I committed that day, the opportunities to show love and kindness that I skipped over, the times I ignored what God might have been saying to me, the times I was too lazy to pick up my Bible during the day even when I felt the nudge to do so, all the ways in which I feel like I fell short. Then, all I can feel is disappointment. And there is an option for the other extreme, where I feel pride over how "good" I was today, where the praise is to me instead of to Jesus. This question always leads to either to pride or to striving and shame, and its focus is always on ourselves.
But the thing is, that is never the question we should be asking ourselves at the end of the day. Because what God thinks of you isn't dependent on you. Let me say that again.
What God thinks of you isn't dependent on you.
Your acceptability to God is not dependent on what you have done. It is dependent of what Jesus has done. He has made us acceptable. He has made us clean. So at the end of the day, we should not ask "How good was I today?", but "How great is my God?" Because when we do that, our days will be concluded in a time of worship and thanksgiving, instead of in spirit of shame and disappointment. When we say, "Regardless of how I was today, my God is great", then there is worship, and there, there is freedom.
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