After surrendering our life to Christ, we experience a struggle between our soul and spirit. Our spirit is born again by the Spirit of God at salvation. Our carnal nature is now dead, and our life is hidden with Christ in God. Christ is our whole life (Colossians 3:1-4).
Yet, there are predispositions in our life
through habits and addictions, which continually pull us back to the deeds of
the flesh (Romans 7:14-24). Thankfully, our redemption through Christ rescued
us from serving as slaves to sin (Romans 7:25).
We can trust His Spirit to slowly sanctify us
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). The result is that we
walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:15-26). We bear holy fruit in our life and share
this fruit with those God brings our way (Galatians 5:22-23).
We cannot accumulate enough good works to earn
God's love (Ephesians 2:8-9). While we were still sinners, He already gave us
His unconditional and unmerited love as a free gift (Romans 3:23, 5:6-8, 6:23).
He gives us an example of how to love our
children, spouse and other family members and friends. Our love for them is not
based on their behavior or accomplishments, but as a free gift.
When we believe that our self-worth is based
on our performance, we lose respect for our self if we fail. When we base our
identity on Christ in us, we always succeed because we follow His Spirit on a
daily basis.
This frees us from wearing masks to fit in or
lying or living a hypocritical life in order to live up to the image we believe
people expect from us. Receiving our worth from Christ in us keeps us humble
and totally dependent on God.
We rely on God to point out our
inconsistencies, to effect these changes in us and to help us to accomplish the
works He pre-ordained for us to do (Psalm 139:23-24; Ephesians 2:10). He is our
all in all through every moment of every day (Ephesians 4:6).
Prayer:
Father God, we choose to enter Your rest and
to bear fruit through Your Spirit and by no effort of our own (John 15:4). We
trust in the saving work of Christ on Calvary's cross rather than on our good
works; and we accept our holiness, righteousness, justification and
sanctification as gifts from Your Spirit.
Thank You for
rooting and grounding us in the soil of Your love and for caring for us as our
Vine dresser throughout our entire lifetime. We pray that as we submit to Your
will for our life, we will glorify You by bearing much fruit for Your Kingdom
through Your Spirit's work in our life (John 15:8; Galatians 5:15-25).
Thought for the Day:
God searches our heart and tries us, seeing
our fears and anxiety and healing us of every hurtful memory as He leads us in
His everlasting way. - Psalm 139:23-24
