Alright it’s confession time. I’m going to share with you a problem that I’ve been dealing with lately. I know what I should be doing, but I have caught myself doing what I don’t want to do. Though this is something that I’ve been dealing with, I doubt I’m the only one with this problem.
How many of you have lain in bed at the end of the day thinking about the day’s events and how they unfolded? For me it sometimes goes like this; well I did this good deed today and I did that good deed today, but then I messed up and did this one thing I shouldn’t have so that’s 2 checks in the “good” box and one in the “bad” box. Man I did OK because I’ve got more checks in the good than the bad. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong! This is what gets us into the wrong line of thinking and leads us down a road that we don’t want to go down.
The problem with this line of thinking is that by thinking this, we feel we can “earn” our way into heaven if we do more “good” things than “bad”. It doesn’t matter. Did you hear me? It doesn’t matter. You see, we are saved by grace. God’s wonderful, merciful, grace. Now don’t get me wrong, we need to do the good things and try not to do the bad, but that is only because we want to live a life that is pleasing to our Creator and has nothing to do with earning anything. If we could earn our way, then Jesus would not have had to have been a sacrifice for us. So let’s stop checking the boxes and just do what we are supposed to do because we want others to see Jesus in us and not because we want to add another check to the good side of the list. For that matter, tear up the list and when you do stumble, repent (that means to change your ways and stop doing what it is you are repenting for) and get on with it. That’s where I’m at now, so I’ll let you know how it goes.
For those that read these columns, please keep the Nicaragua mission trip in your prayers. Please pray for a safe and successful trip. I’ll tell you about it next month when we get back.