Too often I meet Christians who have not embraced fully the freedom Christ offers to us. Lovely Christian people who are paralyzed by fear of possibly doing something that would keep them away from heaven. Like God’s grace would not be powerful enough to cover them if they are not perfect Christians. Why have they not been told it’s not about their religiosity? It’s about the power of God. We can’t save ourselves no matter how hard we try. Thank…
Have you tried to please God and failed miserably? Join the club. We can’t please God by self-improvement and we can’t be good on our own. Blessedly, that is not the end. We are not saved by works but by God’s grace. God’s plan to redeem, restore, and refine us is rock-solid. We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried…
Do you know that you were created in Christ Jesus to do good works? We tend to forget that our sole purpose is not to please ourselves and have fun while here on earth. Even as Christians we label any talk about doing good works as legalistic or pious. But the Bible is pretty clear about this. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way…
Do you remember the Bible story of Jesus coming back to separate people from each other like a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:31-)? At the first glimpse it looks like the reason why some are saved is based on their works when Jesus reveals ‘I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you…
I have always wondered why people insist that Christianity is about being good. That all decent, good people are going heaven. Hence our salvation would be based on works or our behavior. But the Bible is telling us the polar opposite: You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith.This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus…
We all think Abraham is a great hero of faith. But even he did some stupid things. He bought the thought that he needs to help God to give him and Sarah a child! How often we do something for God because we think that’s a great idea instead of waiting for God? We would like to prove ourselves for God but that’s not the way it goes. Human connivance never achieve things God’s way. Tell me now, you who…
Legalism is one of the worst enemies of grace. It tries to steal the joy of salvation. It tries to make us believe that somehow our salvation is depending on something we should do or leave undone. Legalism tries to tell us that if we follow certain set of rules we will be somehow saved. As human beings we were born sinful; there’s nothing we need to do to stand in need of salvation. There’s nothing we can do to…
Don’t let the fear of religious rituals keep you away from experiencing the blessings of Lent! The fear is needed to keep us on toes when it comes to practicing piety. There are great dangers in empty religious rituals. Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. (Matthew 6:1, MSG) But the solution is…
