Goodbye to Religion as Usual | Monday
Week 3 | Divorce, Revenge & Vows…Oh My!
Listen instead of reading
Take a Moment
Ask God what He wants to show you before reading today
Read The Daily
And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5)
The life and teachings of Jesus eradicates any notion of “religion as usual.” “Religion as usual” without Jesus typically revolves around the idea of following God’s laws so as to win God’s approval. Religion with Jesus revolves around the truth that God’s approval is a free and undeserved gift offered to all of us who have failed to follow God’s laws perfectly. This free gift of love for the unchanged person struggling to follow God’s law is, paradoxically, what then inspires the unchanged person to change as a loving response to a loving Creator!
Jesus makes it clear that we aren’t loved by God because we have followed his law. However, Jesus also made it clear that he didn’t come to destroy the law of God, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). It’s not that the law is bad. It’s that the law is good, too good for us to fulfill its requirements ourselves. Therefore, on the cross, Jesus fulfilled the requirements for us as a gift for us to accept or dismiss. Living under grace is accepting this gift. Living under grace is a bold new way of relating to God which Jesus offers each of us personally.
Prayer for the Day
God what are you showing me? What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.
Read The New Testament In A Year
4 x 6 Plan | Read: Acts 7:1-16 & 1 John 2:15-21