Now Is the Time: Devotions From Time of GraceSample

Which Comes First?

"The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because he loves us."—C.S. Lewis

I used to have a pear tree in my backyard. It bore pears like crazy. I ate as many as I could, gave away as many as I could, composted as many as I had energy to pick up, and toward the end of summer just drove the lawn mower over the rest and fertilized the grass. That tree bore pears not in order to become a pear tree but because it was a pear tree. It couldn’t help it. That’s what God made it to be. That was its design, function, and purpose.

God designed you to be a good works machine--worshipful, kind, generous, and eager to share the gospel. And you do those good works not in order to become a child of God but because you are one. “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:4,5).

God’s promises and plans take away our fear. God’s generosity to us takes away our excuses. God’s Spirit in our hearts replaces the god of Self. So tell me—what fruit did you bear today?