Not what we do but what He does - Daily Devotional January 15th, 2010

Daily Bible Reading - Genesis 16, Matthew 15, Nehemiah 5, Acts 15

Not what we do but what He does

There is a balance to living the Christian life. There is divine sovereignty or the things that God does and human responsibility or the things we do. Ephesians 2:8 draws reference to this as it states, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God". Here the grace part is all God and the faith part is partially us (notice it says the faith comes from God).

As we live this Christ centered life out it often seems like we are more focused on what we have or have not done rather than on Christ. Acts 15:5-11 says, the party of the Pharisees rose up and said,"But some believers who belonged to "It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses." The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." This debate is simply over the fact that some people were not marked on the outward but Peter sets the record straight by telling them it is not about what we do on the outward but what God does through grace on the inward.

Now there are probably not to many of us arguing about whether or not men should be circumcised but the principle is the same. We must understand that we can do all we want to make ourselves look like Christ followers on the outside; go to church, serve in the community, say the right words, etc. but none of this marks us as a Christ follower. The thing that marks us as a Christ follower is that we have received the grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. The great thing is that when His grace truly touches our lives it shows up on the outside and thee is no argument or legalism involved just a loving awesome relationship.

What things are you concerning yourself with today to make sure you are looking like a Christ follower? Relax and put your trust in the fact that he loves you and it's not what we do but what He does that makes it all possible.

Tomorrows Bible Reading - Genesis 17, Matthew 16, Nehemiah 6, Acts 16

Dream Big
Ben