Pam Padgett ... teacher
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
While thinking about this
verse today, I thought of how the devil often tries to get us involved in works
of some kind, trying to get us to earn or prove something. But God has provided
the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. A "gift" is free, requiring
nothing in return from the receiver. Jesus has completely paid for all of our
sins. We cannot, and don't need to, pay for those sins ourselves. The blood of
Jesus has already paid for them. There is nothing to earn or prove of
ourselves.
And, rather than being weighed down with all sorts of seemingly "good
works" (works that seem "good" but are not authored by God), the work God has for us is to believe that which God gives
us
John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we
might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is
the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
We
are to believe that Jesus has paid for our sins, as well as each word that God
gives to us. If there is something we need to do, God is able to show us to do
this. The Holy Spirit may bring a thought, or our attention may be drawn to a
scripture. We may have a dream, or receive a message delivered by another
person led by the Holy Spirit. Somehow God is able to show us His will. And
our actions follow what we truly believe.
I'm also reminded of the
following ...
Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of
me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
This morning my attention was drawn to the word "nice". Many, if not all, of us
have been taught since childhood that we should be nice. But when I looked,
this word is not in the Bible at all.
Some of the definitions of "nice"
are agreeable, pleasant, delightful, attractive, and pretty. All of
these things would draw people to us, making us appealing to other people. And,
in order to be nice, we would need to hide our true feelings or what we know to
be true, when around those who are doing evil.
This is not the way we,
as Christians, are told to go. Jesus did not set out to please man, but to
please the Father ...
John 8:29 And he that sent me is with me:
the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please
him.
And Paul said if he was seeking to please men, he wouldn't
be a servant of Christ.
Galatians 1:10 For do I now persuade men,
or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be
the servant of Christ.
Its not possible to serve God and to
serve man. We can't serve two masters.
Matthew 6:24 No man can
serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else
he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Instead of seeking to please other people and to draw them to
us, we're told to follow after things that are pleasing to God
...
1 Timothy 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and
follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
patience, meekness.
These are the things we need to
value and seek to develop in our lives. These things allow us to live in a way
pleasing to God and to deal in a godly way toward those people who cross our
paths.
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