Ephesians 2:8-10
God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.
My Thoughts on His Gracious Acceptance:
I am just like the lady at the beginning of this chapter who said that she finally realized that she doesn’t have to do anything to be valuable to God. He loves me for just who I am. I have finally come to this realization too in the last year or so. He loves me. What I do has nothing to do with whether or not He loves me. He loves me, period.
Everything Cynthia wrote about Claire doing things to be sure that she was getting God’s approval, and still feeling unworthy because she couldn’t figure out what was missing, that was me too. I had believed the lie of the enemy that “(my) identity was based on (my) performance – what (I) did defined who (I) was.” (p. 24) And, yes, it did rob me of the joy of acceptance and love that the Father had already given me. Thank You, Father that I have been set free of the lies and bondage of the enemy.
That took me quite a while to understand, but when I finally “got it” I was in awe of the truth and the simplicity of it. Actually, I am still in awe of it, but the wonderful thing is that I can sit in it. I can rest in this truth. I can rest in Him. But before I could rest I had to slow down and get rid of enough busyness in my life to sit still so that I could even ponder who He is and what the TRUTH is. Either I'm a slow learner or I had a LOT of garbage to clear out, it took me about ten years to really accept this truth and live from that place. Now I know…He loves me!
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1
I still don’t really understand it all, but I guess that is faith and the work of the Holy Spirit. Before I was not okay with not understanding it and kept trying to figure it out. I still study the Word and seek His face in prayer, but I don’t have to get it all right now. The irony of that is that I seem to “get it” better now than when I was trying so hard to understand. That reminds me of a passage of scripture that He led me to last year (through Cynthia's book, A Woman's Journey to the Heart of God) and that I rest in, Psalm 131
My heart is not proud, O Lord,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great
matters
or things too wonderful for me.
But I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within
me.
O (Daughter), put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.
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