It’s Not What You Do

It’s Not What You Do

 “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.”  Romans 8:1 NIV

There is never a point at which you are any less saved than you were the first moment Christ saved you. Just because you were grumpy at breakfast doesn’t mean you were condemned at breakfast. When you lost your temper yesterday, you didn’t lose your salvation. Your name doesn’t disappear and reappear in the book of life according to your moods and actions . . .

You are saved, not because of what you do, but because of what Christ did.

An Ungoverned God

 “God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” 

I John 3:20

You and I are governed. The weather determines what we wear. The terrain tells us how to travel . . .

God—our Shepherd—doesn’t check the weather; He makes it. He doesn’t defy gravity; He created it.

God is what He is. What He has always been. God is Yahweh—an unchanging God, an uncaused God, and an ungoverned God.

All Things

 “Love . . . bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”  I Corinthians 13:4-7, NKJV

The apostle is looking for a ribbon to wrap around one of the sweetest paragraphs in Scripture. I envision the leathery-faced saint pausing in his dictation . . . Checking off his fingers, he reviews his list. “Let’s see, patience, kindness, envy, arrogance. We’ve mentioned rudeness, selfishness and anger, forgiveness, evil, and truth. Have I covered all things? Ah, that’s it—all things. Here, write this down. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”

More Than Forgiveness

 “This is my commitment to my people: removal of their sins.”  Romans 11:27, The Message

God does more than forgive our mistakes; he removes them! We simply have to take them to him.

He not only wants the mistakes we’ve made. He wants the ones we are making. Are you making some? . . .

If so, don’t pretend nothing is wrong . . . Go first to God. The first step after a stumble must be in the direction of the cross.

By Max Lucado