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Trying To Earn It?
by Annagail Lynes Now when the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she requested nothing but what Hegai the king's eunuch, the custodian of the women, advised. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her. - Esther 2:15 God wants to favor us. He wants to pour out his favor upon us. Just like all of God's other gifts to us, we cannot earn it. We don't deserve it. There is no way for us to earn the blessings of God. There is no way for us to earn favor from God. We can never be good enough by God's standards to earn anything from God. Our righteousness, our trying to work for our blessings, our trying to earn favor with God, our trying to earn right standing with God, is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). The only way for us to receive God's favor, to be blessed by God, to be in right standing with God is by accepting what Jesus did for us. By God's standard, the punishment for any sin, no matter how minor, is death (Romans 6:23). His standard is perfection. Here is the great part, though, God sent His Son who knew no sin to become sin for us (II Corinthians 5::21), to die for us on the Cross, to die for every sin we would ever commit. Now we can receive God's gifts--His favor, His blessings, His righteousness--because of Jesus' Ultimate Sacrifice on that Cross. We need to focus, though, on Jesus and what He did for us. That is where our focus needs to lie. If we try to earn what has been given to us freely, we are saying Jesus died in vain (Galatians 2:21). Does this mean that we stop trying to act right? No, but we have to remember that right believing leads to right living. Once we believe right, we will start to live right. Where the minds goes, the body will follow. Keep your mind focus on what Jesus did for us. When you do, you will see all that God has provided for you in His Word. How do you see those things manifest in your life? By thanking God for them. Let's thank God today for all that we have, all that He is and all that He has freely given us. Annagail Lynes is a pharmacy technician, certified life coach and ordained minister. She is helping people move forward after trauma by helping them discover their purpose. Follow her blog at 316counseling.com Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |