Month: October 2011

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 23 – Righteous by Ransom

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Romans 3:21-25 – “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
The fight for faith is a daily one.  It begins anew each morning and continues through to when you go to sleep each night.  We are given tools, “means of grace”, such as prayer, God’s Word, Christian Community, Communion, Baptism, Fasting, Evangelism, and Works of Service to help us in our fight.  The foundation of all of those means of grace is the gospel, namely what we believe about ourselves and Christ.  The question I want to answer today is what does it mean to have your “identity in Christ”.
From above we see that the righteousness of God is given to us by faith in Christ.  We also see that our being declared (justified) as righteous is by grace (a free gift).  Finally we are told that the free gift of being declared righteous in Christ came at a cost, Christ’s blood.  The English word for redemption was taken from the Greek word “apolutrosis”.  What the Greek word apolutrosis literally means is a “releasing or liberation effected by the payment of a ransom”.  This is identity altering gospel.
You are not your own, you were bought for a price – Christ’s blood.  1 Peter 1:18-19 – “you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” You are righteous through no work of your own, but because God declared you as righteous through Christ.  What about our daily struggles against sin?  I do not mean to make light of that or suggest that we do not have a battle to fight, but we fight that battle with Christ through faith.  Our final victory over sin does not come through our efforts, but the final victory was accomplished through Christ’s blood.  We do not labor against sin on our own behalf, but for Him who ransomed us; in love we strive for personal holiness that the glory of God in Jesus Christ would be manifested, shown as a light to a sinful world.  We proclaim with Paul – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Likewise, we view ourselves and others in a like manner, rejoicing as believers in 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 – “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.  From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he isa new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  
Though we were purchased by Christ’s blood we are much more than slaves, we are the adopted sons and daughters of God, co-heirs with Christ.  Galatians 4:4-7 – “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.  And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” 

I say these things, not that we would think higher of ourselves, but that we would rejoice at how great a salvation we have in Jesus Christ.  We have an enemy who would love nothing more than for us to forget these gospel truths, but the promises of God will never fail.  I encourage you to largely ignore everything I have said, save God’s Word alone, and be encouraged by Isaiah 40:8 – “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 22 – All Have Fallen Short

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Last time we looked at doctrine of total depravity, that there is nothing good in man.  This offends the pride of natural man, and this is the “offense” of the cross that keeps many from simply coming to Christ to ask for mercy.
Here is a parable told by Jesus to the disciples in Luke 18:10-14 – “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Why do I love the doctrine of total depravity?  Because it teaches me that there is absolutely nothing in me worthy of salvation, and forces me to trust completely in the mercy of Christ.  When I am weak, I see more of the strength of Christ.  2 Corinthians 12:9-10  “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  If that is true, how glorious is the doctrine of total depravity!  There was NOTHING of worth in me for Christ to save, but it pleased Him to demonstrate His mercy through me.
Where then is boasting?  If you see any good in me, that is to the glory of Christ alone!  I will not boast in any “decision”, I will not boast in any “work”, I will not boast in any “belief”, but that it should be rightly attributed to the shed blood of Christ, His grace to me, and His Spirit within me.
How do I take comfort after reading Romans 3:9-20?  The rest of Romans.
Romans 3:21-23 – “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
The only people in Heaven are righteous people.  None is righteous, save Jesus Christ alone.  His righteousness is ours through faith and even that faith to believe was a gift purchased through His blood on the cross.  That means, yesterday, today, and tomorrow when God sees you, He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ.  Words cannot describe how great a love God has for Christ, and when He sees you, He sees Him.  Now if there is nothing in your power that brings you to Christ, save Christ alone, what is there that can take you away from Him?  NOTHING.  This is why we can have peace in the assurance of our salvation through Christ alone.  This is why we can press the promises of Romans 8:33-39 deep into our hearts when struggles/suffering comes our way.
Romans 8:33-39 – “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Everyone falls short… daily.  If you are waiting to clean your life up to “get right with God”, you will never get there.  The good news is that God sent His Son, Christ, that we who believe would be given His righteousness.  Today is the day of salvation.  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law of works, by becoming a curse for us on a tree, that we might be reconciled to God through His righteousness.  Nothing can be added to His work and nothing can be taken away.  My encouragement is to remind yourself and your fellow brothers and sisters of this Truth daily.
Grace and Peace,
Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 21 – Total Depravity and Salvation to the Uttermost

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Well, it’s been a while since the last WFTD.  A few things have contributed to that, but honestly, the biggest hurdle for me has been to attempt do justice to the gravity of this text.  While I hold to the belief that all of the Word of God needs to be wielded in order to know Him rightly, know ourselves rightly, and understand His will for us – so much of my understanding of God was challenged, transformed, and now built upon this passage in Romans 3, especially Romans 3:10-11.  I am prayerful that God would grant eyes to see all that He has for us in this text.  Much like other parts of God’s Word to us in Romans, the most difficult part is not in the exposition of the text, but in accepting that God means EXACTLY what He says.  My task then, is not to be clever or make light of hard doctrinal truths, but to fulfill the calling laid out for a teacher from Ephesians 4.

Ephesians 4:11-14 says this – “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” 

Some of you reading this are not where I would like you to be on the issues I’m going to raise today.  I want you to know, that is ok.  I still hold a great affection and love for you as my brother and sister in Christ.  My request is that you prayerfully consider the Word today, not so much my words, but the Word spoken by God to us.  If I press on your beliefs some, know that my goal is your joy in deeper fellowship with Christ.

If there was a crescendo to Paul’s first three chapters of Romans where he is outlining how everyone is accountable to God, everyone has fallen short, and no one is righteous on their own, it would certainly be this passage in Romans 3. Romans 3:9-20 – “What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:  “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”  “The venom of asps is under their lips.”  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”  “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”  Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”  (bolded for emphasis from me)

Let me restate simply what God says above, and I challenge you to think on the implications.

  • No one is righteous
  • No one understands
  • No one seeks for God
  • No one does good

What is being described above is the “total depravity” of man.  Total depravity, used primarily as a theological term means that man’s condition from birth is completely sinful, incapable of doing any good and unwilling to do any good. What I’m about to say, I say looking back on years spent in the Word and years pursuing joy in fellowship with God; if you rightly understand your own depravity as complete and full, eventually every other piece of your theology (your understanding of God / redemption / salvation) will correctly fall into place.

Acts 17:26-27 – “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us”

That seems like a contradiction, right?  In Acts we are told that God desires for us to seek after him and in Romans we are told that no one does.  No one.

There are two ways to approach these two texts together

1)      You take a man-centered view, whereby you say God makes men savable, but requires something apart from Himself to actually save; namely the belief/faith of man.

2)      You take a God-centered view, whereby you stand in awe that God actually saves sinners, and grace covers all sin, first and foremost your unbelief, whereby even the faith to believe/seek after God is a gift purchased by the blood of Christ.

Now if you’re in the first camp, I don’t want to beat you up, but I do want you to consider, whether or not what you believe makes sense in light of Romans 3.  Instead of discussing how prideful it is to believe that man enters into salvation apart from God, I want to help you bridge the gap between the offense of total depravity to joy in knowing Jesus Christ as completely your Savior.

Total Depravity offends the pride of man.  It was well understood that this would be offensive to a natural man, and was written of throughout the Bible.

Galatians 5:11 – “But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed

Isaiah 8:13-14 – “But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.  And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” 

You cannot work your way to God.  There is nothing in you righteous that would please God.  If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, even your unbelief was a sin that was covered through the blood of Christ, just as any other.  In fact, it is written that unbelief is the root of all sin.

Romans 14:23 – “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”

Right now hopefully you’re seeing the depth of our sin problem. We have no hope in ourselves.  This is why in Ephesians 2 we are told that we are dead in our sins and trespasses.  Jesus gave a picture of this death, and our hope of salvation in Him, in Lazarus.  John 11:41-44 – “Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”  The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”  Jesus goes to Lazarus, Lazarus doesn’t come to Him.  Jesus gives life to Lazarus without Lazarus asking as a gift.  Jesus gives a command for Lazarus to be unbound, Lazarus doesn’t unbind himself.

When God says that He forgives sin, he doesn’t mean it like you or I.  Nahum 1:3 – “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”  God is infinitely holy and just.  His justice demands punishment against all sin.  Every breath of your life has been sinful and infinitely offensive to our Holy God.  You were incapable of ANY good.  You would NEVER seek after God.  You were not righteous.  But the righteousness of Christ is greater than ALL your sin.  God did not forgive your sin; your sin was placed on Christ.  The infinite wrath of God was poured out on Him who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.  It pleased God, Christian, for His eternal purpose for His glory, to demonstrate His love and mercy to you.  It was not deserved.  It was not owed.  It was a gift.  He is the giver of salvation – all glory belongs to Christ.

It is because Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end of salvation, that we can rest in full assurance of our faith.  Philippians 1:6 – “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”  It is because Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end of salvation, that I can look upon past sin and current struggles and proclaim “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Our sin was greater than we could ever imagine, but so is our salvation in Christ.  2 Corinthians 5:16-18 – “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”  

My prayer and hope is that God would continually illuminate our sin in the light of His glory.  My prayer is not that we would make light of our sin or rest any hope of salvation in ourselves, but that we would turn to the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2) and find peace, rest, freedom, and joy in Him.

Grace and Peace,

Adam

Reconnecting with the Gospel pt. 20 – Grace Led Salvation in Christ Alone

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Romans 3:1-8 – “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?  Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.  What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?  By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”

But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)  By no means! For then how could God judge the world?  But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.”

I’ve been going back and forth on this message for a week.  I have so much to share here, so much joy-bringing Truth that I want all to see.  It feels as though words are not sufficient, but my prayer is that God would use His Word to magnify his name and encourage and edify each of you.  Last time, we saw that the giving of the law to Israel was meant to point them to two things 1) their inability to uphold the righteousness the law required and 2) the righteousness of God.  Now a humble man would see their sinfulness exposed in the law, and fall down pleading the mercy of God.  A self-righteous man would work with all his might to become as outwardly righteous as possible, while inwardly remaining unchanged from the heart.  How dreadful news it must have been for those self-righteous people in Jesus’ time to hear the words – Matthew 5:20-22, 27-28 – “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

If the most outwardly righteous persons among them did not have the righteousness required of God, what hope was there for everyone else?  These people were brought up believing that they should strive to follow the law as much as possible, and where they fell short they should sacrifice animals to God in line with the law.  What was missing was true brokenness over their sin; that they had sinned against God whom they love.  That heart was far from the Pharisees and self-righteous.  Those who held up God’s Word should have looked closer at their King David’s response to God after His sin in Psalm 51:16-17 – “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Each day I pray about how God would have me wield His Word for edification and encouragement.  What timely message would He have me deliver, to lift up Christ, as glorious and mighty to save?  What all-satisfying picture of His majesty can I give to push back the darkness, to thwart the schemes of the enemy that seeks to devour every one of us?  I believe that is possible to do from every text of the Bible, and that is my goal.  With that in mind, this text above from Romans is continuing to build Paul’s case that no one is righteous, only Christ is righteous.  Moreover, we are being shown that even our unrighteousness serves to magnify the righteousness of God, when he condemns us for it.  Can you accept that?  Can you take it in that God has a purpose even in unrighteousness in that is serves to display His own righteousness, and that He is good for it?  Most people never move beyond their self-centered view of God.  Let me ask a question, and ask that you answer honestly.  Do you still believe God owes you something?  What if despite your pleas, God condemned you?  Would that not be the most just thing for Him to do?  How can you make accusations against the justice and character of God when you deny him in 1,000 ways every day through sinful thoughts and actions?

How often you have neglected time with God for other trivial things like going out with friends, TV, or Facebook.  You take a moment to tell the world your plans on Facebook, but you haven’t prayed to see what God’s plans for you are.  You harbor anger in your heart against others; you speak unkind words, gossiping about others’ business and life affairs.  You neglect the orphan who will cry themselves to sleep tonight, hungry and alone.  You neglect the widow who has no one to care for her.  You sleep in comfort while the world crumbles around you, and you want to make judgments on God?

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 18 of a Pharisee (righteous man) and a Tax Collector (sinful traitor):  Luke 18:9-14 – “He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:  “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Those of you who rest in some past “decision” for Christ, and you have “moved on” from feeling the weight of the glory of God over your sin daily – YOU ARE THE PHARISEE.  I’ve said it before, but let me say it again; there is only hope for the hopeless.  If you are struggling with sin, if you hate it, if you long for peace with God, Jesus Christ is very good news for you.  Run to Him; His blood has covered your sin; continue to fight the fight of faith knowing that in Christ the victory has already been accomplished.  If you make the assumption that you are right with God because of some decision you made at a point in time in the past, but have no struggle with sin, rather you are comfortable with it… you’re still way better than most people, after all you you go to church, you belong to a small group Bible study, you pray, you tithe, you do all the things a “good Christian” is supposed to do, but there is no fear of God in you, you should be very afraid.

This is not meant to be fear mongering.  This is God’s Truth.  Unfortunately, the world is full of false teachers and bad theology, and many people who believe that they are saved, are not, and will hear terrifying words of judgment from God when they die (Matt 7:20-22).  My goal is twofold – for the self-righteous person whose hope is in a past decision, I want to press on them, and impose a healthy fear of the righteousness and impartiality of God; for the struggling sinner who is broken in their sin and does not know where to turn, I want to deal with you very gently and lift up Christ, our great Redeemer, who has made an end to all sin for those who hope in Him.

If perhaps I fall harder on those in the first camp, it’s because I was that person; and I am prone to slip back into that mindset if I am not vigilant to kill every ounce of pride and self-righteousness in me.  It is so easy for me to fall back into that same sense of confidence in works.  It is very easy to lose sight of the majesty of the righteousness of Christ and the grace by which I know life daily.  That is why the first three chapters of Romans are so helpful – we see that there is nothing in us worthy of salvation.  Further, the hardest person to convince they are in need of Jesus are those who already believe they have him.  Know that I love both these people; the sinner who knows he/she is a sinner, and the self-righteous person who does not.  My goal isn’t that all of you would run around scared that you’re not saved all the time, rather my goal is for you to see how great a salvation we have in Jesus Christ, and to truly know, taste, feel, and delight in his grace and mercy DAILY.  You cannot live life as a Christian apart from understanding that you rest in the grace of God, daily, not because of a past decision, but because you are God’s – He holds you secure, and is working out your salvation every day.  (Phil 2:12-13)  That can only truly happen, however, when we rightly understand who God is and we are apart from Him.  So that’s what I’m working towards, in the same way Paul was.  That is why the first three chapters of Romans are so helpful – we see that there is nothing in us worthy of salvation.  Before we can delight in the grace and salvation described in Romans 4-8, we must first see how great our own depravity and need is.

Let’s press on that some here and begin with a simple statement that most secular humanists will cringe at.  God is ultimate, and you are not.  He is our Creator and as such is infinitely more valuable than we are.  His glory is infinitely more valuable than whatever circumstance or struggles we find ourselves in to accomplish this end.  God does not need man to be complete and God does not owe man anything.  Acts 17:25 – “He is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”   Again He says in Psalm 50:12 – “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”  Further, he says in Isaiah 45:7 – “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.”  It is tempting for a self-centered person who does not know God here to want to judge God, and say “If that’s who God is, then I’m not going to worship Him!”  You might also say, if God causes cancer, I’m not going to worship Him!  Ok, that’s your choice, but know that you’ve made an idol out of health, over the glory of God.  But for me, my life was purchased by the blood of Christ.  If it is His will for His glory to be magnified through my weakness in cancer, praise God, give me cancer.  It is not for me to understand how everything works, including evil, sickness, calamity, etc. for the glory of God, and in truth I do not care.  Romans 8:18 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”  If my treasure for eternity is the glory of God, I want to make much of His glory, whatever the cost; it is infinitely more valuable than physical comfort or anything else.  My hope is that same heart would be in each of you.

We hold this treasure in jars of clay, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  My goal isn’t to convince you today that even your faith to believe is a gift of God (it is, ref Eph 2:8-9), but to change what the terms “salvation” and “living under grace” mean to you.  The fight of faith isn’t to work your way to God in obedience, it is to be overwhelmed by the unmerited favor of God shown to you through Jesus Christ; to believe that Christ’s blood has made payment for your sin; that His perfect righteousness is yours, and all of this is a gift.  You follow after Jesus because you love Him and you want more of Him in your life.  If you’re heart’s not there, if you want to believe that you’ve got Jesus because of something you’ve done; look back to the gospel and pray for God to incline your heart to Him.  You are not righteous, you never were, and you won’t be tomorrow.  No matter how hard you try, we all fall short… daily.  The point of all of the laws of God was to point you to Him.  Rest in Him.  Find your Peace in His finished work.  Delight yourself in Him, and all that He is for you – Savior, Lord, Healer, Treasure, Friend, Loving Father, and ever Faithful.  In love, manifest and share Him with those God has placed around you.  Christ is all, in Him we find all that we need.

Grace and Peace,

Adam