Reliance

Am I good enough? No. Will I ever be? No. Yet I am through Jesus. We must rely on Jesus and His righteousness. We are saved by Him and through Him; not by anything that we might do. Paul declares in Romans that no one is justified by fulfilling the law and being obedient. We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ and His ability to save us, not our own.

It is not for us to seek out our own righteousness but rely and trust in his gift of righteousness. Freely given to us through accepting God's testimony about His Son. God promised us salvation through Christ. God does not break his promises no matter what. We can have confidence with joy before him. We are weak. He is strong. We are not worthy. He is. We are imperfect. He is the perfect picture of love.

We must trust and rely on Him, His provision, His power, His salvation, and His mercy. Our actions do not matter and our actions do not determine our worth or value in the eyes of God. Our actions serve no purpose in getting us into heaven. Is that a cop out? No. Now our actions (meaning nothing) mean everything! Now that there is no reward or punishment for what we do in life (for we are saved by grace not by the law) what we do is so much MORE important. Now that you are free from the law and free from sin, what you do with your freedom is now the most important question of all.

We must make every attempt to obey Jesus and his teachings, ever striving to be like Him. Fall down and get up again and again. Let us never be satisfied, let us never give up. To obey Him is to obey His commandment of love. For love is what we will be measured by and measured against. Our sincerity and our love for God and our fellow man is on trial.

There are many voices in the world that tell us how to live and what standard we should live by but on that great day when all of mankind is judged (you will be there too) the only thing that will be important is not your accomplishments, wealth, intelligence, fame, power, or how much you possessed but whether or not you understood love and put it into practice. Rely on him and trust in him for your salvation and provision but in word and deed honor him with love.

1 John 4:7-12

7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 John 4:16-17 

       16God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.