But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 1 Corinthians 15:10
Ratliff explains:
There are two extremes that Christians must avoid at all costs. The first is over confidence in one’s own ability, which is pride in its positive form. This causes believers to rely on their own abilities to do “good works.” The other extreme is to become paralyzed into inactivity because of pride working in its negative form. It tries to resemble humility by proclaiming things such as, “I’m not sanctified enough to do that sort of work.” Both are attitudes of pride and are in rebellion against God.
I have seen both errors in my 30 years as a follower of Christ.
Ratliff concludes:
Instead of being all wrapped up in trying to please people, the genuinely humble believer is concerned only about their relationship with their Saviour. It is the only one that truly matters. When Christians do this they let everything else go as they cling to their Saviour at all costs. It is these believers that God uses as He fulfills His purpose through their lives.
If God is calling you to humble service with your life then you must repent of your rebellion and defiance and move forward in humility with Him. If you do that then you will become that one of priceless value to His purposes as you walk before the face of God in genuine humility by His Grace and for His Glory!
Soli Deo Gloria!
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2 comments:
I would have to disagree with you here.
it clearly states in 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 We are Christ's Ambassadors. A Ambassador is charged with speaking on behalf or for someone. Therefore Christ has charged us with speaking on behalf of him. As well as showing his love to people. We cannot do that if we do not go out of our way to help people. in other words yes we must concern ourselves with other people. We cannot just cocoon ourselves in our own little word and wait for God to go out and save people. We are Christ's light. We are charged with showing the lost Christ's glory.
Anonymous - I'm not sure we disagree. You are absolutely correct. The intent of the post was to deal with our primary motivator and source of confidence.
What I'm not about is good works to gain acceptance nor do I kick back and do nothing knowing that I'm accepted. What I do is exactly what you outlined.
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