Halfway

Philippians 3:9 “And be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.” 

When I read this verse I think of my Grandmom. She’s a devout catholic, and to her knowledge - she has served God and followed His law throughout her whole life. She sent her kids (my dad) to catholic school, never misses a Sunday service, and even now, though she is 94 she still finds a way to make it to church every weekend. I have spoken with her about salvation before, but I’ve noticed the biggest difference is the fact that she feels good people will go to heaven - surely God will have mercy on them if we pray for their salvation, she says.

Something is wrong with this thinking, however, because no one of righteous or even good when compared to the law. Yes, some may be better than others, but yet we are all sinners. I have found that in my own life, I often judge myself with how “good” I am. When I first got to Ignite, I had to lay down a lot of different things that were really strong influences in my life. When I first did that, I thought, “Perfect, now I am fully surrendered” — but when God pulled those weeds out of my life there were a bunch of small ones that still remained. There is so much I still need to work on, grow on, and when I measure myself by how many weeds (sins) are still in my garden, I speak condemnation on myself. Sanctification, or becoming more like Christ, is something I will have to work on for the rest of my life, and there will never be a finish line because I am a natural born sinner. That is why I thank God for immediate righteousness when I believed in Jesus. Without that, I would never make it to heaven. Faith is what makes me holy, and there is no greater gift in the world! Praise God.

Application: I will pray and ask God to reveal to me a sin that is still in my life that I need to work on and I will share what that is with Hope by the end of the day today. Then I will have her keep me accountable to fixing that.