God’s work in us is tremendous.  It cannot be imagined or mapped out. It cannot be fully understood, but inexplicably it is there.  I must stress for this post that you do not look in too much.  My intent or purpose of this thought is to turn eyes towards God and His amazing gift of Grace to us and accept it. Grace enables us in all things, this is principle and this is the foundational truth we need every day. This week has revealed an amazing revelation.  I will keep things concise as possible but it is hard to state the depth of what has been revealed and imparted as it has freed me immensely.  It is truly amazing to see and experience truth, for as the Bible states it sets us free.

Here is the thought. . . We live in bondage to ourselves, to others, and to society. We cannot avoid it as the world demands it around us every waking hour. We are led to bondage every day.  Whether it is within the confines of our mind or the place we work, we run and find a twisted comfort in bondage.  It is the base of who we are apart from Christ, we are consistently made (by our fallen state) in bondage to our sin.

Isa 14:3  And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve,

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

We were created by God for His purpose, but apart from God we make ourselves serve hard bondage, being sin. It is amazing to see Rom 8:15 as we are reconciled back to God.  We receive a rest and peace from God as we are adopted again to His call free from the scolding of bondage.  My thought on all this is really centralized around our state in bondage and what God’s work truly is in our life.

I have realized that when the Scripture says there is none righteous no not one, it is true.  It is true that I do not care about others; it is true that I am not moral, and it is true that I am not righteous on any level.  For the longest time, I have believed that within myself there is good, but it is the furthest thing from the truth.  I see now that every good thing is from God and there is truly no good in man. This is complete depravity  and this is the reason we are such hypocrites. It’s a battle of flesh and spirit(as a Christian) We are a mess when we try to manage our affairs before God, it is really quite amusing to see my vain attempts of becoming righteous apart from Christ.  We are so far from God, but God draws us near. Amen!  Apart from God’s work we would continue to distance ourselves from Him even further.

Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Knowing this truth, grabbing this truth, it will change your life.  So many hear this and like me they are initially offended. To come to grips with this truth is tough, but the moment you embrace this is a moment your life can radically change.  Grabbing this truth will be like grabbing onto the garment of Jesus. You will be healed!  We are in a state of despair, we are in a state of depravity, and we will continue in this state of decay unto our death unless we are reconciled to the presence of God through Christ.  So many times I do not see my state without Christ. I turn a blind eye and try to hide in the facade of “righteousness”. In result I fail to see Christ’s work in me, refusing His grace for my life.  This state of pride within my own “righteousness” will only keep me away from God’s presence in my life.  God sent His son for the ungodly, the unrighteous, and the spiritually dead. So if I in my heart profess to be godly, righteous and alive apart from Christ I am denying Christ explicitly.  I deny Christ a lot with my pride, we all deny Christ in our lives.  It is beautiful because in denying Christ we are then immediately  qualified to receive His grace! We all are qualified to receive grace today! This is the prerequisite of Grace.  I need to look into the mirror and realize I am fraud ripe and ready to be exposed on the news.  I am in great need as I, apart from God, am an instrument of evil. I have to be in a place of need to be in a place of grace. So many see this as weakness, but it is the greatest strength we can possess. Grace when I am running away, grace when I am denying Him, and grace when I am caught in my mess. it is all grace that restores an image of God back onto our face. ” Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!”  Accepting that I am nothing before the righteous God, makes me something in God’s eyes! (Luke 9:24) This is such a revelation and is an amazing taste of God’s love towards us. This highlights to me the danger of my pride and any form of self-righteousness that I can so easily develop. The power of humility cannot be overstated. Humility and grace were meant to be together as one will call on the other to be effectively applied. I write this to warn, as I know that we tend to put ourselves on a pedestal of being “good people”. This is one of the main issues we have in reaching out to the world as so many have adopted this perspective of being good enough. There is nothing good if it is apart from God. That is the only way I can put it. This is unsettling but I find it to be true. All the good we see in life is God’s work not ours. Whether it is done by believers or unbelievers, if it is truly/Biblical good it is of God. We need more humility in this world, we need to realize the Savior of this world is working daily, and we need to know God. I want to do good deeds in my life and want to make a difference, as many do. The issue is, I cannot be the determinant in what is good or bad, it has to be something above me. It can’t be the law as it falls short of providing resolution; it can’t be my family’s traditions or values as they also change and are susceptible to corruption. My conclusion is it has to be from God and what better book than the Bible(His Word) to lead me in that way with Christ’s power.  There is only one judge of good and evil in this life, and it isn’t any of us. If you desire to do good things, that desire is not yours. It’s God’s, and God has a way for you to be a light in this ever darkening world we live in. God has imparted to each of us a light that leads us to Him, and when we arrive to that point we then are graciously given a choice to accept an eternal light(His Son as the perfect propitiation for sin)or turn away and live with a dimming light.  We can be people of purpose, and we can do good unto others.  The major thread we forget is that this is impossible apart from God. Be transformed to his way today, accept his eternal light of salvation and live a life that can truly do good things with God.