God's Not Building Character in You Ever!

When experiencing times of suffering, many Christians glibly proclaim, "God must be building character in me." Nothing could be further from the truth!  God is not trying to build character in you during times of suffering.  Why isn't He trying to build character into us?  It's because the moment we responded to Him and believed in Jesus as our Savior, He put all of His character into us.  It's already there. That's grace for you.

2 Peter 1:4a tells us:  "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature."  To partake of God's divine nature means we were united to God Himself at salvation. His character was given to us and became our identity in Christ.  

It's not that we became God nor did He become us at salvation. We remain separate but united. It's like making tea. The tea bag releases its flavor into the hot water and we have delicious drinkable tea.  The water takes on the character of the tea, yet, they remain separate. John 17:21 says, that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. (NASB)

Hard times are still hard times. Yet, God remains good and can use these as opportunities for the character already in us to come out. In other words, we get to live like who we are in Christ and we can ask Jesus in us to live through us to handle these challenges.  2 Cor 12:9 Each time he said, "My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me."(NLT)

Our enemy may tempt us to believe that because life is difficult, God isn't really good, He doesn't love us or He's mad at us.  God is none of those. He loves us and is good. Because we are united with God and can't be separated from Him, we have the confidence that we can go to our Heavenly Dad and talk to Him all about it.  We can tell Him how sad we are, how angry we feel, how confusing life is, how hurt we are and ask Him to speak to us. if you don't know what to pray, take comfort, the Holy Spirit is praying for you according to Romans 8:26.  And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for.  But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  (NLT)

We may also need to share our struggles with a trusted friend or our small group.  Someone asked me recently, who Ellen and I talk to as our daughter's autoimmune encephalitis continues into its second year.  Mostly, each other, but we both also have others we can pour out our hearts to for prayer and counsel.

This may be a new thought for some of you.  If so, I pray God will make it real to you that He is not trying to build His character in you when times are hard.  We may experience Him in a deeper way but His character is already in us.  2 Peter 1:3 tells us this,  By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.  We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. (NLT)

Believe it! It's the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

GOD'S GOOD. YOU'RE BAD. TRY HARDER!

A friend told me recently that both of his teenagers rushed in from their youth group meeting and grabbed a bite to eat on the way to their rooms.  As they were passing by, he asked them, "How did youth group go?"  The 16 year old boy said, "Oh you know, Dad.  God's good.  You're bad.  Try Harder."  That's the unfortunate message Christians hear every week.

In my recent introduction at our Pastor's Conference, I shared that I believe there are three distinct types of Christians attending a typical worship service each week. 

Group 1 - The spiritually hungry.  These are the Christians who have a great desire to grow in the Lord.  They are like a dog that is waiting for food by the bowl at meal time who is saying "I'll eat whatever you give me.  Just feed me!" 

Group 2 - The spiritually disillusioned.  These are the Christians who can't figure out why they can't get Christianity to work for them.  They were excited and full of hope in the beginning but now some are disappointed, some are bored and some are ready to give up.  They are like the dog that keeps coming to get food.  Over time, the dog grows tired of the lack of energy and the lack of flavor from what they eat. 

Group 3 - Those in pain emotionally and relationally.  These Christians often carry their secrets and are ashamed to share their struggles.  They are like the dog that goes and lies down in a dark place under a bed and doesn't care if they eat or not.

If you were to ask each of these Christians what the Christian life is all about, they might each answer similar to the 16 year old boy.  God's good.  I'm bad.  Try harder.  This view of the Christian life is not only incorrect, it's unsustainable, and it doesn't help either group to experience genuine growth, fulfillment or healing.

The Gospel of the New Covenant however, can help all three groups.  Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."  The Gospel tells us that everyone of us who believe has been given that righteousness, so we can stop looking for it.  2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to become sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.  (NASB)  Believing that you are as righteous as Jesus is the key to spiritual growth, according to Hebrews 5:13. 

The Gospel tells us that there is hope for those who are disillusioned because they can find that their identity is in their union with God, not in their sins, failures, successes or service to God.  Colossians 2:10 says it this way: So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. (NLT)

And for those in emotional and relational pain, there is hope for you, also.  Jesus promised that He came to bind up the brokenhearted according to Isaiah 61:1.In Isaiah 53:4, we are also encouraged by these words.  Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.(ESV) 

Religion and relationships will always let us down or even damage us.  The real Jesus in the real Gospel, revealed in the fantabulous New Covenant, will always lift us up and heal us.  The Gospel of the New Covenant is this:  God is good.  You are righteous.  Trust Christ in you to live your life!

Believe it! It's the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

God Loves Jesus More Than He Loves Us, Right?

If we compare the perfect trust and obedience of Jesus to our own, our immediate conclusion is that God the Father loves Jesus infinitely more than He loves us.  It is difficult to believe it's possible that we are in the same league as Jesus when it comes to who God loves.  I mean, who do many parents tend to love or favor the most, the child who is the most obedient or the child who is disobedient?

Most Christians are unconvinced that our Father loves them apart from their behavior, attitudes etc.  It's easy for them to believe in the deep recesses of their minds that God is keeping score, doling out His love more when they obey and withholding it when they don't.  I was once one of them.  Though I could recite to you the fact that God loved me unconditionally, I still functioned as if I could get God's attention through my obedience so He would love me more.

Jesus turned this thinking on its head when He prayed an amazing prayer for His present disciples and the ones who would come later. It's found in John 17:26 "I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."

Jesus says that He has made the name of the Father known to these who followed Him while on the earth.  To make known the name of the Father is to reveal Who the Father is, which results in Christ followers knowing how much they are loved. 

Can you receive this today?  Can you receive that our Father loves you as much as He loves Jesus, regardless of your good or bad performance? Jesus prayed for this and I am confident that Father always answers Jesus' prayers.

Here is a prayer of faith I challenge you to pray, even if you don't feel or believe you deserve it.

Father, because Jesus prayed for me that You would love me just as much as You loved Him, I believe that right now.  Please deepen my understanding and experience of Your love for me.    Remind me of this on my good days when life is good and on my bad days when life is bad.  In Jesus Name, Amen.

Rest in God's love! 

Warmly in Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Grace Works!

"Grace Works" seems contradictory.  It seems more like an oxymoron than a liberating truth.  It is actually what is called a double entendre, in that, it has two powerful meanings.

First, it means God's grace in Jesus Christ works to be the true source of change in us.  Self-effort rarely brings permanent change in anyone's life.  The flesh is the source of self-effort.  The flesh includes all of the strategies I have learned to try to cope with life apart from dependence on Christ in me.  The flesh is also distinct and unique for every person.

For example, you may have learned to use self-confidence to impress people so you can feel important.  That's a fleshly strategy.  Someone else may have learned to people-please, so that they agree with anything another says to them as an attempt to avoid rejection and elicit some type of twisted acceptance.  That is also a fleshly strategy.

Grace works to free us from those kinds of strategies so that our only strategy is Christ in us.  Often, the way God accomplishes this is not by delivering us from our situation, but by delivering us from ourselves! That is, our reliance on our flesh!  As this happens, our enjoyment of Christ in us and who we are in Him transforms us from glory to glory.  That is one way "Grace Works".

Grace works in a different way, also.  As we rely on Jesus in us more and more, the Holy Spirit brings forth good works through us.  Those works are not the religious works of the flesh but the relational works birthed by grace.

For example, because you are a Saint (Ephesians 1:2) which means a holy one, doesn't it make sense that you would want to live a holy life instead of a sinful one?  Since you are righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21) in your identity in Christ, doesn't it make sense that you would want to live a righteous life instead of an unrighteous one?  Since you are a child of God (John 1:12), doesn't it make sense that you would live a life of love, just like your Heavenly Dad, instead of a self-centered one?

I believe you agree that the answer is "Yes," and the power to live like who we are is found in the Holy Spirit filling us with the life of Christ, so He can live through us.  (Ephesians 5:18)

For many, many years, I prayed to be a Godly man.  I worked hard at doing the right actions and works that I thought would make me a Godly man.  It was intense and I was inebriated with the wine of self-righteousness.  One day, after I began to understand the New Covenant, I was riding alone in my car and heard the Lord speak to me deep inside.  He said, "Mark, you are already a Godly man, so you can stop trying to be one."  It was a liberating moment when I realized, that I was already a Godly man in my identity in Christ.  What a relief!  I could finally relax.  The results?  I stopped working to be one and began to live the good works of who I already was...a Godly man.

Rest in God's grace this week which works!

Warmly in Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2016 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!