Unshakable Faith
Day 21: The Test
1. Have you taken the freedom without taking the responsibility that comes with it?
No, I don't think I have. If anything I have been closer to the living under the law, but not in grace. God has shown me over the years that this is just as bad as taking the freedom without the responsibility.
Taking the freedom without responsibility is choosing to live under grace to the point where we forget about the law and act like it was not meant for us. Living under the Law without grace is the opposite extreme...where we try to be perfect, abiding by the Law, without any grace for the times when we make mistakes. God gave us the Law, but He also made a way for us to receive grace. One without the other is a huge mistake! We are to do our best to obey the Law, but to know that no one is perfect, we all will make mistakes, and God gives us grace to cover all of our failures.
2. Has it been true for you that the most fulfilling experiences have come when you took the initiative, made a good choice, and saw the fruit?
Absolutely! When we decide to step out in faith and try something that is out of our comfort zone, it is scary. There is a huge potential for success, but also for failure. But taking that step, and making the right choices, allowing God to lead you...and then seeing God's blessing on your endeavors, and seeing how that good choice effects you and all those around you, is such a rewarding experience.
3. Have you allowed God's Word to bind you or free you?
Both! There have been times in my life when I pictured God as a all powerful judge just waiting to catch me in a mistake, so that He could punish me, and so I did everything I could to try to be perfect...perfectionism is a rough road, and it is a sin to think you could ever be good enough on your own. As I have grown in my walk with Christ, He has shown me that the opposite is true. God loves us, Jesus didn't come to condemn us, but to save us and to free us. God is not waiting to bring down His gavel in judgement on us...no, He is waiting hoping that we will turn to Him, He is gently calling us and beckoning us to come to Him, to lean on Him and allow Him to do what we could never do...save us, redeem us, set us free, forgive us for our mistakes, make us into a beautiful bride that will one day spend eternity in heaven with Him. When we come to Him and allow Him to work in our lives and we trust Him for our salvation, it is then that God's Word sets us free instead of binding us.
