What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God., and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely;y with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.
Galatians 2:19-21
Who Are We?
Exciting news, my sweet sisters! We don’t have to work ourselves silly for freedom! Christ did all the work. By believing in this, we get a reset—-our minds, wills, and emotions! If that’s not good news, I don’t know what is. On our Journey back up this hill, through boulder-lies and the world trying to convince us to come back, we need that good news. The factory reset through faith in Christ frees us from believing in many other things.
Sisters, we are Christians—-Christ followers. We may not believe everything religious, moral, or serious, but we choose a right relationship with God and are against self-arranged improvements! We don’t believe in fairy tales and fancies, and we don’t think we must perform for God to value us! We don’t check the self-righteous boxes or act a certain way because certain people watch us. We don’t put on a show in public. If we did live like this, we would spend time calculating, looking over our shoulders, always wondering, “am I approved, am I accepted?” That puts us right back in the world’s hospital. It aborts a unique relationship with the one who created us and set us back to right!
We are who we are, we are sinners, and we missed the mark. Once we get in touch with the realities of that, we can dive deeper into that personal relationship with God.
We are all sinners and have spent time in the world’s hospital. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s a fact. We cannot and will not erase that fact by constantly trying to do good. We don’t need to exhaust ourselves, casting blame on society, parents, or God. We are who we are, we are sinners, and we missed the mark. Once we get in touch with the realities of that, we can dive deeper into that personal relationship with God. New creativity, new faith, and new growth can then flow.
Being outside the world’s hospital is sudden and frightening. At least on the inside, we knew where we stood. We had labels, lists, and established procedures. While in the hospital, we always imagined a Christ life, but once plunged into a free life, many go right back. Only the bold venture into “crucified with Christ.”
This crucifixion completes one life and begins the next. It finishes a life of coddling, indulging, and admiration and begins a life offered to Christ and raised as a living sacrifice.
This life of faith is not a weekend pass away from the hospital. The end is where we start. This end brings us to the Grace of God.
Sisters, Grace simply means “gift.” Each day we awaken into a world and existence wholly created by God. God shares with us who He is and what He has made. He is not just the maker of all things; He is not just the revealer of truth. God is more than the architect of salvation—-He gives. “For God so loved the world that he gave….” When we live freely, we live receptively and gratefully. “Personal explorations of grace develop freedom in relation to all persons and things. Where all is a gift, I do not own things or persons and thus don’t have to protect them. Therefore, I do not have to be anxious.”
Sisters, we don’t have to live in a world where we struggle to design a life that suits our desires. We don’t have to live in anxious suspicion, nervous about what others may do to think of us. We simply discover and receive.
The end is where we start. This end brings us to the Grace of God.
The air is free along our path. We are Christ’s followers and realize that each step back up this hill is a gift we must receive. NO strings attached! Let this good news carry us further than we ever thought we could go.