August 16
Scripture focus: I spelled out your character in detail to the men and women you gave me. They were yours in the first place; then you gave them to me, and they have now done what you said. They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that everything you gave me is firsthand from you, for the message you gave me, I gave them; and they took it, and were convinced that I came from you. They believed that you sent me. John 17:6 and following (The Message)
Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. Ephesians 2:7-10 (The Message)
God has us right where he wants us, once we choose to believe.
Listen to his intentions for us:
- God wants to shower grace and kindness upon us.
- God wants to save us – it's completely his idea.
- God does the work of saving – we can't work hard enough to save ourselves.
- God does the heavy lifting, we do the trusting.
- All this is a gift from God.
- It's okay if we haven't worked out all our little quirks and hurts. We don't play a major role in any of this saving process.
- God does both the making and saving.
God creates us for good work – fulfilling, abundantly satisfying kingdom work.
What a deal! In fact, it's such awesomely good news that sometimes it seems almost too good to be true. Part of trusting God involves believing that what God says about us is more true than how we feel about ourselves or what others have said about us.
Recommended reading: 2 Kings 1-3
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