Wonder of GraceSample

Motivated by Guilt or Grace?

Why do you do what you do for God? Is it because you love Him and know He loves you? Or is it because you want to keep in His Good Books?

When trying not to feel guilty becomes our driving reason to serve Him, we become focused on what we do. We "must" read our Bible, we "must" pray, we "must" go to church. Instead of doing these things out of a desire to go deeper in Him, they come from fear and guilt. We try to make the right decisions based on our strengths. We strive and struggle. We lose our focus and our joy. Faith becomes religion, and our relationship with God becomes a list of do's and don’ts.

This is far from the relationship God wants us to have with Him. He wants us to serve Him because we choose to, because we love Him, not because we feel we must.

When Jesus died on the Cross, He paid for every sin, no matter how bad. It’s easy to think that what Jesus did was enough to cancel everyone else's debt, but somehow, not ours. The Bible is clear in Romans 8:1 that if you are a Christian, there is now no condemnation from God for you. There are no caveats in that statement. Now means now – and no means no!

It may not feel true. But it is true. The question is, will you believe what God says about you or what your past experiences or feelings say?

When we receive God's forgiveness and know we are already loved, we see another wonder of Grace. Suddenly, we naturally want to spend time with our Father, to simply "hang out." From that place of relationship, we naturally make the right decisions and serve Him with joy without striving.

Grace, not guilt, really is the best motivation to serve Jesus.

Reflect and Respond

Can you identify times that you have served God through guilt?

Pray

Heavenly Father, remind me of how I’ve seen that You are with me and for me this week.