I saw one of those cute little tea towels for sale online. It had Psalm 107: 1 monogrammed on it. Then I noticed the price tag hanging from it. $16.50. Wow, one tea towel almost $20.00. For that price, I wouldn’t want to use it. I’d just let it hang in my kitchen as a wall decoration.
Psalm 107: 1 says “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” What does that cost really? Can we afford God’s goodness and love? Do we deserve it? Truth is His goodness and love are free gifts. If it endures forever then it stands to reason it endures for us forever. Yet we would often rather buy something – work for it – than receive it as a gift.
Oh beloved, your “job” in this life of faith is not to work yourself into a frenzy so that you can afford the faith. It’s impossible to achieve enough, to work hard enough, to save enough, to buy grace, faith, love. Jesus paid it all. It’s Him you owe everything to. And yet He does not expect you to pay Him back. He says in His Word to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. That’s not fearful worrying if you will make it. No that’s reverence for God and wholehearted pursuit of Him. You’re not in danger and there is no fear in your relationship with the Lord. Jesus went through hell so you could have peace of mind and heart. Your life is full of mercy and grace, covered by Holy Spirit power for living and divinely reborn into a completely new life! No more fear, worry, torment, guilt, condemnation. Those are part of the old life, before you knew Christ. Now you live for Jesus alone – in assurance of what He has done, at peace with the gift of salvation, looking forward to heaven, faultless in God’s sight, and living for the approval of God! This is the wonderful life!
Yes, you will work out your salvation, but it is in the abiding in Christ that you find yourself living for His glory and achieving the spiritual maturity your heart and mind longs for. You are who God says you are if you have been born again. So work on this – discovering who you really are in Christ and cultivating the love story of grace, peace and love that you long for!
God loves you and He’s for you. Rest in His promises. Run to His throne room for more grace, more mercy, more peace, more wisdom, power and love! All you ever need is found freely poured out for you. Thank Him this morning that your calling is secure and your anointing for ministry is upon you as you live in the Light of what Jesus has done!
Philippians 2: 13 “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”
John 3: 6 “Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.”
Hebrews 13: 20-21 “Now may the God of peace–who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood– may He equip you with all you need for doing His will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen.”
Colossians 1: 11-12 “We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.”
John 15: 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”