Under Pressure

The following is a comment I left over at Don't Call Me Veronica on a post he wrote. It made me think.

5/31: God has saved me not for anything I've done or will do but because of his grace and purpose. - Tony at Don't Call Me Veronica



For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. - Ephesians 2:8-10

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

So after reading your journal entry for 5/31 my initial thought probably wasn't on line with what I assume you intended (that our salvation isn't based on our works) . . . instead I thought (and had to stop a moment to let my head really wrap around this thought) that God didn't save me for all the amazing things I might do for Him, or how I would fill this role in His body, or even for the ministry that I currently fill, but because of His grace (insert love for me as just me,not for what I bring to the table, even the big purposeful table of ministry or His church) and for His purposes (those that I can't see or know or even have a realization that I am accomplishing - purposefully invisible). Now this strikes me because instead of thinking we owe a debt to God and can work it off to get into heaven, I think a lot of believers come to God because of grace but then feel this burden of debt is owed to make up for what Christ did. And that isn't freedom, that isn't living in grace, that's putting back on the yoke of slavery and writing out own list of debts to be paid.

So all that to say, if I truly believe that God saved me not for what I can do for Him (even with Him in me) but because of His grace and His purpose than I'm freed up to be used by Him without a burden or pressure to pay back what I was freely given.

Sorry if that was a ramble or if it doesn't make sense, either way it was a good thing for me to understand today.