NewIn the message I gave last week at South Fellowship, I talked about how as Christians, I think we often work at the wrong things. If it’s true, I think it explains a little bit as to why so many of us feel warn out and defeated in the Christian life. We carry guilt and shame and think that it’s God’s design for us. We work to conquer our sin, but never seem to get to the top of that mountain; much of our lives are one step forward and two steps back. We want to know God, but are convinced that because of who we really are (and the realization that he is aware of that) He doesn’t want to know us. And so we try… we try really hard to make progress. We try to make ourselves more lovable. We try to make progress in the Christian life. But for so many it feels like we are running on a treadmill; we expend a ton of effort, but go nowhere!

Last Sunday I share a few changes in perspective that have helped me. It’s not that I have stopped working… but I have changed the things that I word at, and it has made ALL the difference in the word.

Here are the shifts that I have made in my own personal life. I started to:

  • Pour my energy into learning to trust God rather than trying to please him.
  • Rely on the providence of grace, not the pace of my progress.
  • Remember that I have been made righteous rather than trying to work on my sin.
  • Enjoy fellowship with God rather than trying to earn his approval.
The changes may seem subtle (or even heretical to some – although they are ruthlessly biblical), but I can tell you that practically they have brought freedom – more freedom and life than I could have ever imagined! If you want to listen to the message, here it is.
I’ll leave you with one other verse that brings new perspective on how we live the Christian life and what our motivation is to do so. Romans 6 unpacks a powerful argument of how we engage in this battle, but I think it’s summed up well in Romans 6:14 which reads,

[14] For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

So, how does sin lose it’s power over us? Not by trying really hard to fight it head on… but by remembering and living out a life that is defined by (or “under”) grace. It’s very different than fighting as one who is still under the law (which is what many Christians think and it’s practically the way they live). So many think that grace gets us in the door, but then we take over from there. The reality of the Christian life is that we are called to fight and we are called to work – but we are called to work and fight to believe and rely on the grace that not only saves, but that also carries.

It’s different, I know. I’d love your comments! Feel free to push back, disagree, etc. I’d love to engage with you about it!