All Your Failures Are Erased through the Gift of Righteousness

Have you ever felt overwhelmed with regret, even for a moment, because of past failures?  I have and it can take your emotions down to the bottom of the ocean where there is no light and no life.  The great news is that though you may remember your failures, God doesn’t. 

There is a fascinating Scripture in Romans 4:19-21 that gives us keen insight into this issue in the story of Abraham.  You may remember that God promised good ole Abe that he was going to be the father of many nations, but for years nothing happened. 

One day, he and Sarah hatched what seemed like a genius idea.  They would help God fulfill His promise by using a custom of the day which allowed wives to give a female servant to their husband for the purpose of impregnating her.  When the child was born, the wife would be there and the child would be considered hers.  This was the ancient way of having a surrogate to provide a child to a husband and wife.

There was a problem though.  This was not God’s plan!  It was the plan according to the flesh of Abraham and Sarah.  God actually wanted Abraham to trust Him to get Sarah pregnant through Abraham, though she was past child bearing age.

When you read that story in Genesis 12-25, there is no doubt that Abraham wavered in his faith in God’s promise.  But, here is how God remembered it when the Holy Spirit wrote Romans 4:19-22 through Paul.

19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; 20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 Therefore it was also credited to him as righteousness.  NASB

Do you see it?  Because God saw Abraham’s righteousness, He says that Abraham “did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.”  And that is the good news of the Gospel!  As one who is in Christ, you may occasionally visit the land of regret, but God wants you to “set your mind on things above, not on the things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2)  In other words, let the Gospel guide your thoughts away from regret and into the confidence of your gift of righteousness in Christ before our Father!  And as one who is 100% righteous before Him in your identity in Christ, your soul will be able to rest in the peace of God.

What are you going to do the next time Satan brings regret into your mind?  Preach the Gospel to yourself remembering that because you are righteous, God sees you as one who has lived by faith, not by doubt.

Believe it!  It’s the Gospel!

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2014 Mark Maulding

I Know God Loves Me but Does He Like Me?

What an intriguing question.  Have you ever thought about it?  Maybe your mind drifts to how you think God thinks about you.  "God tolerates me".  "God loves me but He has to because He is God."  "God is mostly disappointed with me." "God is going to get me one day."  "God is disinterested in me." "God is impossible to please."  "How could God like me?  I mess up so much!" Etc.

Let's start with something more basic first.  Does God like me?  Several years ago, a young lady went through our Advanced Discipleship Training.  The very last day of the training, she joined us for our "graduation" lunch where we celebrate all that God has done in each of the students.  When she came into the room, all of us were immediately stunned by the glow on her face and her big smile.  We asked her why she was so happy.  She said, "I've known for a long time that God loved me but today I realized for the first time He likes me"!

You see, God does like all of us who are in Christ.  Why? It is because He accepts us.  I was speaking to a group of pastors and Christian counselors several years ago.  I was sharing this same truth about how God accepts us.   When I finished, I fielded questions from the audience.  One astute man in the audience asked me, "If God accepts us as Christians, how does He feel about those who are not Christians?"  I quickly replied, "It is obvious from the Bible that God loves those who are not Christians but He does not accept them."  You see, God only accepts those who are righteous.  And the only righteous people in the world are those in Christ!  (Romans 5:19)

        Think about it for a moment, God not only loves you.  He likes you.  Let me make sure you understand.  You cannot make God like you less through disobedience.  You cannot make God like you more through obedience.  I have had some people say, "If that is true then I can just go out and sin all I want.  Right?" Their question is intended to prove that this can't be correct that God loves us and likes us regardless of our behavior.  That's why it is called "grace".  The answer to their question is answered in that He will love and like us even if we sin. BUT, who would want to displease our God who feels that way about us!  Spend some time pondering over Romans 5:19 this week that speaks the truth that God not only loves you, He likes you.

Live Free In Christ, 

Maulding, President and Founder 

GraceLifeInternational.com

All Content Copyrighted © 2012 Mark Maulding

Are We Really Righteous of Does God Just See Us that Way?

In our ministry, week in and week out, we teach people from Scripture that through their faith in Christ, they are righteous. Over time, most cannot deny that the Gospel, as explained in the Scriptures, is clear that God has declared us to be righteous. (See Romans 3:21-22:5:15. 17, 19, 1 Cor. 1:30, 2 cor. 5:21, Heb. 5:13.) However, we sometimes discover that though they believe this, their understanding of it may not be complete.

In our Grace Life Conference, which we teach in our office monthly, and in churches or groups hosting the Conference, we spend quite a bit of time clarifying this Biblical reality. I am going to share today what we teach about this. It is called, "Deceptions Regarding Our Righteousness".

Deception 1: God says I am righteous because, I am covered with the robe of righteousness. This is Biblical, but misunderstood. Many wrongly believe that under this robe God sees a sinner.

Deception 2: God says I am righteous because I am covered by the blood of Christ. Thank God for the precious blood of Christ shed for our sins! Yet, similar to #1, many wrongly believe that underneath the blood of Christ, God still sees a sinner.

Deception 3: God says I am righteous, because Christ is my filter. The erroneous idea here, is that God hides me behind Jesus Christ, because He can't bear to look at me.

Deception 4: God says I am righteous because of my position in Christ. This one is tricky because we are certainly in Christ. Yet, the way it is usually taught is that, this really means God sees me as righteous, but, I won't really be righteous until I go to heaven. So, He is kind of "pretending". That completely negates the new birth that has already happened!

Deception 5: God says I am righteous because when He looks at me He only sees Christ in me. Without a doubt, Jesus Christ is in us! But, for our holy God to live in us, He had to prepare a place to live. He had to cure once and for all two problems...remove our sin, and the sinner. He also had to replace our sinner spirit with a new creation spirit, which is righteous. Only by doing this, can God live in us.

Deception 6: God says I am righteous because, He has completely forgiven me. The forgiveness we possess in Christ is incredibly powerful. However, forgiveness only removes my unrighteousness. It does not give me righteousness.

One pastor exclaimed after understanding that he had believed all of the deceptions, "I knew I was saved, but I didn't know I was that saved"! Oh, how many of us could probably say the same thing!

Are you willing to pray and thank your heavenly Father for revealing these deceptions, and agree with Him, that you are righteous through your faith in Christ?

Be Free In Christ, Mark Maulding, President Founder GraceLifeInternational.com