Christ Jesus Saves!

There is no freedom from the tossing and turning of approval and disapproval when your actions are front and center.

How he favoured your work, and she noticed your effort; because you succeeded, and you did it right. How he didn’t listen, and she was unkind; because you failed, and you did what you hate.

Oh, the weight of it all! It is so heavy. When your actions are the focus, you seek for approval only to counter the disapproval, and there is no freedom. For approvals carry expectations, and disapprovals cast condemnation. It’s true, there is no freedom there with that kind of weight to carry.

But those actions were meant to be the very means for grace in your life and in those around you (Romans 5:20-21). Those actions were meant to be the very completion of faith in your life and in those around you (James 2:22). Every time and all the time.

For remember,

“By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works [actions], so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

“[Christ Jesus] was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God” (Romans 4:25 NLT 1996).

So those actions must not be the focus. Christ Jesus and His work on the Cross must be the focus.

Christ Jesus, the very love of God, shown to you and made clear to you (1 John 4:9) has made you right with God. And since “you have been made right in God’s sight by faith…” (Romans 5:1), since you have “…a high priest who …in every respect has been tempted as [you] are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15), and since you have “…been raised with Christ… [and] have died, your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3). And being hidden with Christ, you are able to live and move and act according to His good will (Acts 17:28; Ephesians 2:10). And every action becomes a means for grace and faith to be lived out, all because Christ Jesus’ redemptive work in your life has become your focus.

Just as Abraham walked, whose “…faith was made complete by what he did - by his actions” (James 2:22), we too can walk free, knowing every deed, every work, every action points to the good news that Christ Jesus saves, beginning with faith and made complete by your actions!

****

“[Look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of [your] faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” - Hebrews 12:2 ESV

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” - Colossians 3:1-3 ESV