Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
Galatians 3:2
Father God today my soul is convicted, my conscience pricked, by how I sometimes perceive myself. Because of my blatant imperfections – a nice way to declare I sin – I sometimes find myself in a spiritual “depression of sort”, singing the doldrums like Glum of Gulliver’s Travel. I confess it goes beyond wondering how You could love someone like me into the space of declaring how foul I am even now. And when it gets really bad, my spiritual imagination goes crazy imagining You are sitting on Your throne second guessing Your decision to save me. And then I find myself trying to do something, anything, to “win” Your favor and prove to You and myself that You did not make a mistake with me. How foolish of me!
Today I am reminded of the reality that Christ died for sinners, even the worst of them (1 Timothy 1:15). I am reminded that I was once considered amongst them, but now am Your child, washed, sanctified and justified by His blood and His finished work. Forgive me for ever thinking that there is something I can do to earn Your favor. Forgive me for all those times that I fall back into a mindset immersed in a works righteousness, foolishly believing that I can earn some iota of favor and acceptance from You based on something I have done.
Today, I rush into the shadow of my Savior, hiding myself in Him, dying to me that I might live to Him (Colossians 3:3). Thank You for sending Your Son to do what I could not do so that I could lay hold of what I could not grasp, and be what I could not be (Philippians 3:12-14). In Him and by Him I live, move, and have my being (Acts 17:28). Thank You for this great salvation that is mine through Your amazing grace. Thank You for the love that is mine through Your Son. Thank You for counting me one of Your own in Jesus’ Name! Amen.