I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this…
I commit to make a spiritual change in my life.
“Okay, I’m never going to skip a day of saying my prayers ever again.”
“I’m going to show more love to my family members.”
“I’m going to do better at fulfilling my calling from now on.”
I’m ready to repent!
And I do make a change… for a few days.
And I fall back into my same weaknesses.
Let’s look at one of the most famous and powerful scriptures about grace:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. (Romans 3:23-24)
We all sin.
But we can all be forgiven.
(“Justified” means redeemed or forgiven.)
So, how do we receive this grace from Jesus Christ?
Good works AND faith!
When we make a mistake, we adjust our actions. (Good works!)
But we also have to have the accompanying FAITH with our change.
Repentance is a PROCESS, not an event.
Many times, we will commit the same sins over and over.
But if we get discouraged each time we fall back into “our sin”, then we’ve lost the FAITH necessary for true change.
Instead, we need to keep returning to those two elements of grace (and ultimately, forgiveness):
Do our GOOD WORKS (meaning, try to change the behavior)…
And have FAITH (meaning, believe that you actually can change).
And when we fall short again -
Return to the good works and faith that Jesus really can make all the difference.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
It’s a process.
It’s a life-long process.
Grace. Repentance. Redemption.
They are all possible because of and through our Savior.
Our good works are because of His example, and our faith is in Him.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
