Your daily goal:
Philippians 3:14 “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
(Monday-Friday, from my daily study time, I will write a short thought for that day which I pray God will use to motivate you to ‘GO’ for that day. Your objective is simple…to GO…to GO OUT and share the love of Christ with someone in that day….to GO and bear fruit …to be light to the world.)
Today’s Daily Light
Taking from…The Search For Significance, by Robert McGee
(Con’t) GOD’S ANSWER: RECONCILIATION (God’s Solution to the Fear of Rejection)
2 Corinthians :17,19,21 Paul wrote… Therefore..if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come….namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation….He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Because of reconciliation, we are completely acceptable to and by God. We enjoy a full and complete relationship with Him, and in the relationship, His determination of our value is not based on our performance. However, we may question what this relationship means as we attempt to apply it in our day-to-day experience. Let’s analyze this issue: When we are born again as spiritual beings in right standing with God, we are still tilted toward theh world’s way of thinking. Because we have been conditioned by the world’s perspective and values, we find it hard to break away. Indeed, when Paul wrote the Christians at Corinth, he called them men of flesh. Though born of the Spirit and equipped with all provision in Christ, these individuals had yet to develop into the compelte, mature believers God intended them to be (1 Corinthians 3:1-4).
Many of us are like the Christians at Corinth. We still try to obtain our significance the world’s way, through success and approval. Often, we look only to other believers rather than to Christ Himself. We learn to use the right Christian words, claim divine power and guidance, and organize programs, and yet so often, our spiritual façade lacks a depth and substance. Our spiritual activities become human efforts lacking the real touch of the Master. In effect, we live a lie.
The desire for success and approval constitutes the basis of an addictive, worldy self-worth. Certainly, withdrawal from this dependencecy may cause us some pain as we change the basis of our self-worth, yet we will begin to discover true freedom and maturity in Christ only when we understand that our lives mean much more than what success or the approval of others can bring.
We can do nothing to contribute to Christ’s free gift of salvation; furthermore, if we base our self-worth on the approval of others, then we are actually saying that our ability to please others is of greater value than Christ’s payment. We are the sinners, the depraved, the wretched, and the helpless. He is the loving Father, the seeking, searching, patient Savior who has made atonement for the lost and has extrended to us His grace and sonship. We add nothing to our salvation. It is God who seeks us out, convicts us of sin, and revelas Himself to us. It is God who gives us the very faith with which to accept Him. Our faith is simply our response to what He has done for us.
So then, our worth lies in the fact that Christ’s blood has paid for our sins; therefore, we are reconciled to God. We are accepted on that basis alone, but does this great truth indicate that we don’t need other people in our lives? On the contrary, God very often uses other believers to demonstrate His love and acceptance of us. The strength, comfort, encouragement, and love of Christians toward one another are visible expressions of God’s love. However, our acceptance and worth are not dependent on others’ acceptance of us, even if they are fellow believers. Whether they accept us or not, we are still deeply loved, completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted, and complete in Christ. He alone is the final authority on our worth and acceptance.
Romans 5:10, Paul wrote For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconiled, we shall be saved by His life.
(con’t tomorrow)
Father….help us this week to see…to understand…what You have done for us ‘in’ Christ. Amen
Let There Be Light 