I came upon a quotation from Martin Luther and thought it was very relevant to the Christian who is going through feelings of failure in her Christian life and frustration at her own persistent shortcomings and sinfulness. I can't be the only one familiar with this situation, can I?
Says Luther,
'A Christian is at once a sinner and a saint; he is wicked and pious at the same time. For so far as our persons are concerned, we are in sins and are sinners in our own name.
But Christ brings us another name, in which there is the forgiveness of sins, that for HIS sake sins are remitted and pardoned.
SO, both statements are true: There are sins, for the old Adam is not entirely dead as yet; yet the sins are not there. The reason is this:
For Christ's sake God does not want to see them.
I have my eyes on them. I feel and see them well enough. But there is Christ, commanding that I be told I should repent, that is, confess myself a sinner and BELIEVE the forgiveness of sins in His name.
For repentance, remorse, and knowledge of sin, though necessary, is not enough; Faith in the forgiveness of sins in the name of Christ must be added.
But where there is such a faith, God no longer sees any sins; for then you stand before God, not in your name but in Christ's name. He adorns you with grace and righteousness, although in your own eyes and personally you are a poor sinner, full of weakness and unbelief.'
***
Romans 5:20-21:'...sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that's the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.'
It's comforting to be reminded that it's not all about our performance, but rather, what Christ has already done with His perfect life and atoning death on the Cross so that we might live, trusting in Him alone.
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9 comments:
fabulous post today Judy - thanks for the reminder and as the songs says 'It's all about YOU, Jesus'.
No, you are not alone in this at all! What a wonderful post- I would love to share it at bible study Thursday night if you don't mind.
It was funny seeing your comment when I did on my post because I was just thinking that you might have some chocolate soap! LOL Going to check it out!
I think we have to do the best we can every day, so that when we do meet God, we have our best to offer. The rest is yet to be seen by anyone here on earth. I believe He is a very forgiving God, but I think he would be happiest if we did our best to not have too much to forgive. We may even be harder on ourselves that He is. We have all the questions; he has the answers, and there is Faith in between to get us from one point to the other.
Not sure that this might all sound too simple, but it's what came out of my fingers.
Hugs!
Oh, so true!!!
Jesus rescued us, and it's not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. Things we do to honor and please God out of gratitude are one thing; but there is no meritorious 'credit' to our account. Being born sinners, we all are at a huge budget deficit where righteousness is concerned, for God demands perfection. Praise God that JESUS, the only One who ever lived a perfect life, did it all for us, paid the penalty for our sin, and brought us freedom! When our trust is in Him, His righteousness is credited to our account. What an amazing Savior and Rescuer!
I loved the previous sewing post and this post is excellent! We all can become very hard on ourselves for the things we have said and done that we should not have. However, God IS forgiving and this journey we are on is about trusting in God and learning along the way. We have lessons we must learn. Through all of our struggles and lessons we learn that God is always right there by our sides. This was wonderful Judy! Have a great night!
Mama Hen
Very much a relief that we don't get what we deserve.
"It's comforting to be reminded that it's not all about our performance, but rather, what Christ has already done with His perfect life and atoning death on the Cross so that we might live, trusting in Him alone." ... Yes, it is!! Praise be to God!
Seriously, it's the only thing that keeps me going and the most astounding thing about God...to think He loves me in spite of all my sinful ways and that He truly does forgive me!
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