To those of you who try to live life with a deep sense of responsibility and reliability, I dedicate today’s devotion to you.
To those of you in any type of leadership position and who know what it’s like to keep a lot of people’s ships afloat, I dedicate today’s devotion to you.
To those of you who have little eyes following you every single day, and who know what it’s like to always have to be “on”, I dedicate today’s devotion to you.
And of course I dedicate today’s devotion to the Type-A’s… the organizers… the first-borns… the planners… the achievers… the git’er done-rs…. and to the thinkers.
Here goes…
God’s love for you doesn’t increase or decrease in response to your striving, earning, organizing, strategizing, scheduling, planning, arranging, positioning, leading, researching, meeting, or succeeding.
We’re used to striving, aren’t we? This is the way our culture thinks and operates.
If you want a top entry position… plan.
If you want amazing kids… work.
If you want numbers, and status, and position… strategize.
If you want friends, and success, and love… orchestrate.
But Paul comes along and uses the book of Romans to debunk our “truth.” And he uses a guy named Abraham (kind of a big deal) to back up the debunk.
”That famous promise God gave Abraham – that he and his children would possess the earth – was not given because of something Abraham did or would do. It was based on God’s decision to put everything together for him, which Abraham then entered when he believed. If those who get what God gives them only get it by doing everything they are told to do and filling out all the right forms properly signed, that eliminates personal trust completely and turns the promise into an ironclad contract! That’s not a holy promise; that’s a business deal. A contract drawn up by a hard-nosed lawyer and with plenty of fine print only makes sure that you will never be able to collect. But if there is no contract in the first place, simply a promise – and God’s promise at that – you can’t break it. This is why the fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely on trusting God and his way, and then simply embracing him and what he does. God’s promise arrives as pure gift.” Romans 3:13-16a
See how that works?
Faith in Christ is not something to be measured, earned, or strived for, it is a gift.
