Thursday, September 20, 2012

~ "Off to Neverland..."

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Gal 2:16)

Okay, so if we don't get to heaven by our works (Eph 2:9) and we don't get there by following the "law" - how do we get there? We get there because we have faith in Jesus and because he's already paid the price for our sins! Believe - and fear not! As a child of God, and having been born again through his death and resurrection, we have been saved from death ourselves. We walk around on this planet and spread his word, we have the belief that he is who he says he is and we, too, will come to be in his presence completely!

Try as we might, we cannot always follow his word to the letter of the law - we are sinners by nature and therefore it is impossible to be good and just all the time. We struggle, we suffer, we fall - but when we do - we get right back up and ask for forgiveness, ask for his mercy and the strength to continue on - until we fall again. And we will fall, over and over again. We also rebel - not wanting to give in to the will of the Almighty! Wanting the control and the power to do it "our way". We interrupt his work with our own meddling and then we have the audacity to get mad when he doesn't answer our prayers quickly enough or when he tells us to "wait". We need to be in HIS will, not our own.

Strive to be in the direct will of God! Through prayer and patience, we can ask for forgiveness and focus on staying in his will - compromise is not an option - we trust by faith, so have the faith to trust in him!