We all want to improve. It’s natural to want to be better, do better, achieve greater things. This natural desire drive us to constantly strive farther, higher, to reach beyond perceived limits. It has fueled the creation of new inventions and discoveries, and caused us to explore new ground and even beyond our planet.
There is one area though, where this natural desire can get us into trouble… and that is the area of our spiritual identity. Because we tend to judge our standing and our progress by our performance; by the things that we achieve, or how good we are doing presently. And when we seem to have failed, our natural reaction is to become depressed, discouraged, even angry, and then clench our fist even tighter and declare “This time I’ll do better!” – and we get ourselves into a vicious cycle of determination, failing, guilt, and then back to determination. And it repeats over and over again.
What I want to share with you today, is how to break that cycle. Many people are deceived into thinking that if they just try hard enough, or focus more, they can get out of it themselves… but that is actually part of the trap. The way out doesn’t come by your strength, effort or force of will, but through knowing the truth of Jesus Christ that makes you free. As you see this truth, you will finally be able to break out of this performance-driven cycle, and be free to live and love, through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Once someone said to me: “James, I just don't understand God.” I responded “in what way?” Because there are some aspects of God which we will never understand while still under the confines of our human brain. However there are some aspects of God which we are not only made to understand, but it is vital that we do so,. This man replied, “I don't understand how God can still love me when I sin.”
At this point I realized that this man was struggling with something that all of us at one point have wrestled with, and many believers are still battling with this very same thought. Many still do not understand that marvelous work which Jesus Christ has done for them. Even in the church, there are a great number of people who profess Christ with their mouth, and claim to have received the gift, but they have not even started to unwrap it. So in this study today, we will be examining the gift of justification which Jesus Christ has freely given to each and every one of us, and how seeing this truth, can bring peace to any lingering doubt about where you stand in Christ today.