Hey there. So, summer's officially over for me as of tomorrow. I know I mostly post about my deep (?) thoughts about God and whatnot, but as I was thinking about that and scrolling through on my Twitter, I saw someone I follow ask a question - What made you smile this summer? My summer has been pretty great, but I wanted to make a list of things that made me smile this summer, just for fun. I have a habit of only remembering the bad things and downplaying the good things sometimes, so this is more for my sake than yours. But feel free to read along anyway. But maybe some of the things made you smile as well. ;)
What made me smile this summer?
-getting to sleep in
-my hilarious parents
-my new obsession with White Collar
-sunshine
-my puppy
-Nationals and all that went with it
-precious kids at VBS
-finishing How To Kill A Mockingbird
-having good work-outs
-good music
-getting to have lunch with people I hadn't seen in a long time
-naps
-my birthday
-getting my iPhone
-crazy adventures with good friends
-making crafts from Pinterest
-friends' birthdays
-registering for college classes
-amazing worship services
-coffee
-La Madeliene
-square dancing
-spending time with my grandparents and extended family
-helping at debate camp
-making cheesecake and really messing it up with good friends
-graduation parties
-finally figuring out how to French braid my hair
-deep-cleaning my room
And there are many more. Thank you, Lord, for a blessed summer!
What made you smile this summer?
8.26.2012
8.04.2012
Guilt, Performance, and Righteousness
I struggle with feelings of guilt on a regular basis.
Maybe you do too, or maybe it's just me. Usually I lean toward the latter - I'm the only one who struggles with guilt, and that makes me...a bad Christian. (dun dun dun!)
You know what? What in the world does a "bad Christian" even look like? What kind of idiocy were we into when we coined that phrase? The term "bad Christian" is an oxymoron..and here begins my post.
The first thing I want to say to myself, and you, but mostly myself, is that there is no such thing as a bad Christian or a good Christian. I guess usually what people mean when they say bad or good Christian is what that Christian does with their life or how committed they seem to God - the "bad" Christian might not seem to get into worship at church, or maybe he only prays to God on Sundays. The "good" Christian goes to Bible study every week, prays everyday, and posts Scriptures on his Facebook. Maybe you don't categorize people like this, but I've caught myself doing it, and I'm just now realizing the flawed mindset behind it.
Maybe I'm just rambling here, but I think that we categorize Christians as good or bad, or maybe even whether they're "on fire" or not (did that hit close to home?) based on their performance. Let me ask you something. Does God love you based on your performance?
Hint: the answer to that question is a big fat NO. The Bible tells us that God's love is unfailing and unconditional, and Paul makes it very clear that nothing can separate us from God's love. Not bad performance. Not sin. Nothing.
So then why do we feel guilty?
Let me speak loud and clear by saying that we were made right with God through Christ - once and for all. If we start to think that we can be made right with God by doing good things, or that He'll love us more if we do more good, we are in tremendous danger of settling into a "works" mentality, instead of the faith mentality..and that's going back to the ol' "following-the-Law" mentality.
Just to be clear, I think there is something to be said for following the Spirit, and not the flesh, and spreading the Gospel, etc. But us doing those things or not doing those things does not affect God's love for us, and it does not affect whether we're saved by Christ or not.
I'm no New Testament scholar, but it seems to me that the Bible talks a whole lot more about the power of Christ's sacrifice, and the righteousness that comes from His sacrifice, than what we as Christians have to do to get God to love us. We have got to stop letting the enemy and our flesh work together and tell us that we are guilty and condemned, because our flesh is dead wrong when it tells us that, and the enemy has no right to speak that lie into us. I love how Paul puts it in Romans 8.. "If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one - for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who will then condemn us? No one."
No one. No. One. If God Himself decided that, through the blood of Christ, we are good enough for Him (sins and all), then who are we to tell ourselves, and who is the devil to tell us, that we are not good enough for God? That we're too sinful? That we ought to be feel guilty?
I know I'm rambling, so I'll wrap it up. Here's the bottom line: God's love is not performance-based. He expects you to sin. One thing I love about God is that He sees things how they are. He knows I'm going to sin. I'm sinful. He knows that and He loves me in spite of that. I don't have to feel one ounce of guilt, because God chose me, warts and all, and He said, "I love her. Through my Son's sacrifice, she is good enough."
He loves you. Through His Son's sacrifice, you are good enough.
Maybe you do too, or maybe it's just me. Usually I lean toward the latter - I'm the only one who struggles with guilt, and that makes me...a bad Christian. (dun dun dun!)
You know what? What in the world does a "bad Christian" even look like? What kind of idiocy were we into when we coined that phrase? The term "bad Christian" is an oxymoron..and here begins my post.
The first thing I want to say to myself, and you, but mostly myself, is that there is no such thing as a bad Christian or a good Christian. I guess usually what people mean when they say bad or good Christian is what that Christian does with their life or how committed they seem to God - the "bad" Christian might not seem to get into worship at church, or maybe he only prays to God on Sundays. The "good" Christian goes to Bible study every week, prays everyday, and posts Scriptures on his Facebook. Maybe you don't categorize people like this, but I've caught myself doing it, and I'm just now realizing the flawed mindset behind it.
Maybe I'm just rambling here, but I think that we categorize Christians as good or bad, or maybe even whether they're "on fire" or not (did that hit close to home?) based on their performance. Let me ask you something. Does God love you based on your performance?
Hint: the answer to that question is a big fat NO. The Bible tells us that God's love is unfailing and unconditional, and Paul makes it very clear that nothing can separate us from God's love. Not bad performance. Not sin. Nothing.
So then why do we feel guilty?
Let me speak loud and clear by saying that we were made right with God through Christ - once and for all. If we start to think that we can be made right with God by doing good things, or that He'll love us more if we do more good, we are in tremendous danger of settling into a "works" mentality, instead of the faith mentality..and that's going back to the ol' "following-the-Law" mentality.
Just to be clear, I think there is something to be said for following the Spirit, and not the flesh, and spreading the Gospel, etc. But us doing those things or not doing those things does not affect God's love for us, and it does not affect whether we're saved by Christ or not.
I'm no New Testament scholar, but it seems to me that the Bible talks a whole lot more about the power of Christ's sacrifice, and the righteousness that comes from His sacrifice, than what we as Christians have to do to get God to love us. We have got to stop letting the enemy and our flesh work together and tell us that we are guilty and condemned, because our flesh is dead wrong when it tells us that, and the enemy has no right to speak that lie into us. I love how Paul puts it in Romans 8.. "If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for His own? No one - for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who will then condemn us? No one."
No one. No. One. If God Himself decided that, through the blood of Christ, we are good enough for Him (sins and all), then who are we to tell ourselves, and who is the devil to tell us, that we are not good enough for God? That we're too sinful? That we ought to be feel guilty?
I know I'm rambling, so I'll wrap it up. Here's the bottom line: God's love is not performance-based. He expects you to sin. One thing I love about God is that He sees things how they are. He knows I'm going to sin. I'm sinful. He knows that and He loves me in spite of that. I don't have to feel one ounce of guilt, because God chose me, warts and all, and He said, "I love her. Through my Son's sacrifice, she is good enough."
He loves you. Through His Son's sacrifice, you are good enough.
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