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
Con’t …taken from …The Search for Significance, by R. McGee (this is soooooo gooood)
God has provided divine-level solutions that ‘free us’ from our false beliefs about the nature of, and source of our value, self-worth and significance. Let’s look at these false beliefs and then look to God’s word to see God’s solutions. (regard that we will just provide a brief outline from McGee’s work on this subject. For a comprehensive understanding, you should obtain a copy of the book. I bought mine online through amazon books 😊).
Let us be clear that achievement and performance are good things. Our desire to be productive and work hard are good God-given things. Our desire to be loved and respected and valued and find significance in healthy relationship are all God-given desires. Just as in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve…as they were in a perfect environment with perfect desires…Satan came to distort and lie and twist and corrupt the ‘good’ in all. That is what he (Satan) does…he takes from God-given good and perfect design and seeks to distort the good and beauty of God’s design and intention in all things that He (God) has given us.
False Belief #1: The Performance Trap. I believe my performance must meet certain standards in order to feel good about myself. When we equate our self-worth with performance and other’s opinions we are judging ourselves based on the Satan’s formula designed to enslave us in the performance trap.
God’s Answer: Justification. Justification means that God not only has forgiven me of my sins but also has granted me the righteousness of Christ. Because of justification, I bear Christ’s righteousness, and I am therefore fully pleasing to the Father.
Romans 5:1…Paul wrote to us… Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
God has canceled the formula underlined above. He has given us a secure self-worth totally apart from our ability to perform. We have been justified and placed in right standing before God through Christ’s death on the cross, which paid for our sins. But God didn’t stop with our forgiveness; He also granted us the very righteousness of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21)!
Visualize 2 ledgers: On one is a list of al your sins; on the other, the righteousness of Christ. Now exchange your ledger for Christ’s. This exemplifies justification – transferring our sin to Christ and His righteousness to us.
2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul wrote to us …. He (God) made Him (Christ) who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Christ). Wowwww!!!
As marvelous as it is, justification means more than forgiveness of sins. In the same act of love through which God forgave our sins, He also provided for our righteousness, the worthiness to stand in God’s presence. By imputing righteousness to us, God attributes Christ’s worth to us. The moment we accept Christ, God declares that we are no longer condemned sinners. Instead, we are forgiven, we receive Christ’s righteousness, and we are creatures who are fully pleasing to Him. God intended that Adam and his descendants be righteous people, fully experiencing His love and eternal purposes. Sin short-circuited that relationship, but Jesus’ perfect payment for sin has since satisfied the righteous wrath of God, enabling us again to have the status of righteousness and to delight in knowing and honoring the Lord.
God desires for those of us have been redeemed to experience the realities of His redemption. We are forgiven and righteous ‘because of’ Christ’s sacrifice; therefore, we are pleasing to God ins spite of our failures. This reality can replace our fear of failure with peace, hope, and joy. Failure need not be a millstone around our necks. Neither success nor failure is the proper basis of our self-worth. Christ alone is the source of our forgiveness, freedom, joy, and purpose. (con’t tomorrow 😊)
Say it with me friends … Christ alone…Christ alone…Christ alone… He is our justification and righteousness before God. Christ is our self-worth…we are IN Christ…and thus our significance is based on who we are IN HIM! This is how our heavenly Father sees us…perfect, IN Christ. Amen
Let There Be Light 