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
God’s Answers to our False Beliefs
Continuing with …..Justification is God’s solution to the false idea of “I must meet certain standards to feel good about myself and find significance.”
God works by fiat, meaning that He can create something from nothing simply be declaring it into existence. God spoke, and the world was formed. He said, ‘Let there be light,” and light appeared. The earth is no longer void because God sovereignly created its abundance. In the same way, we were condemned, but now we are declared righteous! Romans 5:1 refers to us as having been justified by faith, a statement in the past perfect tense. Therefore, if we have trusted in Christ for our salvation, we each can say with certainty, “I am completely forgiven and am fully pleasing to God.”
Some people have difficulty thinking of themselves as being pleasing to God because they link being pleasing so strongly with performance. They tend to be displeased with anything short of perfection in themselves and suspect that God has the same standard.
The point of justification is that we can never achieve perfection on this earth; even our best efforts at self-righteousness are as filthy rags to God (Isaiah 64:6). Yet He loves us so much that He appointed His Son to pay for our sins and to give us HIs own righteousness, His perfect status before the Father. (Wow and super wow!!)
This doesn’t mean that our actions are irrelevant and that we can sin all we want. Our sinful actions, words, and attitudes grieve the Lord, but our status as holy and beloved children remains intact. In His love, He disciplines us and encourages us to live godly lives – for our good and for His honor and glory.
The apostle Paul was so enamored with his forgiveness and righteousness in Christ that he was intensely motivated to please God by his actions and his deeds. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:9; Philippians 3:8-11; and other passages, Paul strongly stated his desire to please, honor, and glorify the One who had made him righteous.
If we know who we are, we will not try to become someone else in order to have value and meaning in our lives. If we don’t know who we are, we will try to become someone who someone else wants us to be! (con’t tomorrow 😊)
Ephesians 2:10… Paul says For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Friends….read this verse out-loud to yourself…memorize it…and repeat it to yourself several times a day until it becomes your identity…your significance……
Romans 5:1 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.
And then begin to see yourself as God sees you. Say this with me this morning: I have been justified through faith. I have peace with God through ‘my’ Lord Jesus Christ. I believe and have put my faith in Jesus Christ who died for me and through him I have been forgiven and declared righteous. I do not and cannot deserve or merit such a gift of love. It is an unconditional, unmerited gift to me through God’s choice to show me mercy. Thus I WILL stand in this grace and make it my significance as to ‘who’ I am.
Let There Be Light 