Rest in the Gift by Joyce Meyer - July 24, 2014
While the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered
[today], let us be afraid [to distrust it], lest any of you should think he has come too late and has come short of [reaching] it.
—Hebrews 4:1
When I teach on righteousness, I like to use the following
illustration, and I ask you to give it a try. Sit in a chair, then try to
sit in the chair. I know that sounds silly, because you are already
sitting in the chair. Once you are in the chair, you cannot get into
it any more than you already are.
The same idea applies to righteousness. Jesus has made us right
with God through His sacrifice and we cannot do anything to make ourselves more righteous than He has made us. Our behavior can improve, but not until we fully accept our righteousness through Jesus. Jesus puts us in the seat of righteousness and we need to learn to relax and stop trying to be what we already are. No amount of right actions can ever make us right with God apart from Christ.
Affirming this, the apostle Paul prayed that he would be found and known as being in Christ, having no righteousness of his own, but only that right standing that comes through faith in Christ (see Philippians 3:9).
When we truly understand that we cannot do anything to make
ourselves righteous and that we do not have to prove anything to
God, we are able to rest in the gift of righteousness Jesus gives to
us—and that will make us bold in our petitions and confident in
God’s desire to answer us. I know that God does not hear or
answer my prayers because I am good; He hears and answers
because He is good!
God’s word for you today: Love who you are because God created you with His own hand.
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