Religion vs. Gospel

Religion - If you obey, God will love you.

Gospel – Because God loves you, you now want to obey (1 John 4:19 says “we love because He first loved us”)

Religion  - We are good and they are bad.

Gospel – Repentant and Unrepentant bad people (all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23)

Religion – Identity is in birth family or growing up in church or being baptized or having an outside moral appearance.

Gospel  – Identity is in new birth and part of new family (Romans 6:4 - We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.)

Religion – Goal is to get from God what I want

Gospel – about getting God and spending eternity with Him (Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God).

Religion – Sees hardships as punishment

Gospel  – Hardships can be used for good to make us more like Jesus.  (Corinthians 12:10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.) 

Religion – Life is uncertain, how do you know when you have been good enough to make sure you are going to heaven?

Gospel – Life is about Jesus and living eternity in heaven.  He died, rose on the 3^rd day – it is finished work. We can approach the throne with confidence; we have assurance of eternal life.  (reference??)

Religion – Attitude is either prideful – I’m obedient (do quiet time, get to church early…) or in despair – I have tried and I fail over and over.  Forget it.

Gospel – attitude is one of loving  humility (Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves)

Religion – All about me

Gospel – All about Jesus!

This week evaluate your thoughts as you go about your day.  Where has religion has seeped in?  The mind is powerful so make sure your thinking lines up with the Gospel and is not stuck in religion.

Michelle

Miracles Behind Closed Doors

My eyes strained to open to the new day.  Heavy limbs weakly attempted to climb out of bed.  The reality of a new day met my thoughts as my feet slowly moved forward during the early hours of the day.  No sooner than taking my first step, my enemy began to taunt me.  Fear.  Fear echoed off the walls of the silent house.  What if someone attempts to harm my family?  What if the terrors of the world enter my neighborhood?  My chest tightens and I remind myself to breathe.   

In an attempt to push it away, fear brushed from another direction as I poured my coffee.  The great unknown towered over me whispering all the “what ifs” of the unplanned future.  Where will we go?  How will we get there?  What if this happens?  What if that happens?  An ache in my throat….breathe.   

Now feeling completely overwhelmed in just the first moments of this new day, I continued the familiar path through the early darkness.  Turning the corner, now with hot coffee steaming from my favorite mug, fear startles me from a new direction.  I’m not doing this mom thing very well.  What if my kids fail in life or go wild ‘n crazy when they leave home someday?  What if they resent me?  Or worse, what if they turn from the Lord?  Now the fear is unbearable.  An unstoppable tear arrives in the rim of my eyes….just keep breathing.  

By this point, it’s no wonder what spills out onto the pages of my journal… 

“Jesus, I need the tempest inside of me to be calmed.  It’s raging and dangerous.  I can’t calm it on my own.  It’s destructive. “ 

Many days I seek and find.  Pages of Scripture turn, pens mark, words are recorded in my journal.  I study, meditate, and write, grasping for a glance of my Savior.  But this day was different.  My Jesus spoke first.  Witnessing my drowning in raging fear, he reached down to pull me from the deep.  

Call it coincidence or accidental, I call it intervention.  Without seeking, everything pointed to fear.  Scripture after Scripture relating to fear fell into my lap.  This was, indeed, no accident. 

“I praise God for what he has promised.  I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?  What can mere mortals do to me?”  Psalm 56:4 

“Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help.  Protect me, for I am devoted to you.  Save me, for I serve and trust you.  You are my God.”  Psalm 86:1-2 

“He will cover you with his feathers.  He will shelter you with his wings.  His faithful promises are your armor and protection.”  Psalm 91:4 

“For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory.”  Psalm 32:7 

And on and on it went…nothing short of a miracle in the wee hours of the day, in a quiet place, with a broken heart.  Jesus showed up to reassure and direct. 

And he wants to meet with you, too.  It doesn’t matter if you follow a curriculum or read the Bible one page at a time or faithfully take in a daily devotional…just make the time to meet with Jesus.  He has words for you.  Words of encouragement, hope, direction, correction…words specific to your moment of time in this life!  Devote time each day to seek our Savior and he will meet you wherever you are.  He wants a relationship with you.  His arrival on this earth is proof that he wants you to know him!  Miracles will happen in those quiet moments, behind closed doors, with your heart and his.  I beg you not to miss it! 

What is God speaking to you about today?  To what Scriptures has he lead you?

 

Seeking Him,

Beth Ann

Elohim...Mighty Creator

This week I started a study on the names of God. The first name that we are digging into is “Elohim,” the Mighty Creator.  The author instantly sent us to Genesis 1 where we first see Elohim.  Every time I open the pages of Scripture to this familiar passage, God never ceases to amaze me. “He said, let there be….” and “there was….” God spoke the creation into existence. Who does that?  No one but God. That is why he is called the Mighty Creator.  This truth always stirs me to praise him and honor him for who he is and what he has done.

The author continues with this challenge: “God speaking (1:3,6,9, etc.) brought order and beauty from darkness and chaos (1:2). In what areas of your life do you need God to bring order and beauty from that which is dark and chaotic? Can you trust him to do this? What, in the creation story, encourages you that he will?” Oh, that question brought the Mighty Creator right into the center of my life. Of course there is darkness and chaos in life starting with a sister with cancer, grandkids with learning disabilities that break my heart, a friend in the hospital, another friend struggling with an auto immune disease, and the list goes on and on.  Darkness and chaos surround us daily. Our habitat is in a fallen world. But the author goes further and asks, Can you trust God to bring order and beauty into cancer and learning disabilities and sickness and loss?  At this moment, I paused and pondered. Can I trust the Mighty Creator to bring order and beauty from these things?

Upon further study, I glanced at Genesis 1:3-4, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.” As I meditated on these passages, I thought about cancer. It is dark and ugly and hard, yet, in the middle of the awfulness of cancer, God shows up and brings light into the darkness.  Sometimes He heals; sometimes He takes the person home to be with Jesus.  But all of his actions are light. Then my mind wandered to why the young grandkids are struggling with learning disabilities. He created them just as they are, yet, in the mist of the struggle, he brings light into their lives and they see Jesus in ways that I never could.

As I continue to ponder on creation and the Mighty Creator in my life, my heart trusts him to bring order and beauty into the darkness and chaos of life. However, I continue to ask him to help me when I don’t fully trust. How about you? Do you trust the Mighty Creator to bring order and beauty where darkness and chaos reign?   Or are you trusting yet asking for more trust in the weakest moments?

Learning to trust,

Bev Bartlett