Abiding ... and growing

I took this picture in spring earlier this year - one of the many dogwood trees that grow around our house.  Dogwoods always make me think of Christ's death on the cross ... but not in a sad way -- in a redeeming way!  They remind me of what He did for me!  As Christians we know (intellectually) that Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross is all sufficient and wholly complete to reconcile us to God; however, we do not always live as if we believe this.

I am reading a really great book by a fellow sinner – J.D. Greear.  The book is simply called “Gospel” and it has made me do a lot of thinking.  I highly recommend it if you are also a sinner (… that includes all of you, in case you weren’t sure).  The book basically reminds us that (if we are in Christ) there is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and conversely, nothing we have done to cause Him to love us less.  This is a hard fact to grasp because as humans, we are very works-driven.  We tend to love folks who are sweet to us and do things for us, and we also tend to not like those who aren’t so nice or actually cause us aggravation or harm.  We are incredibly wishy-washy.  Martin Luther called this “works-righteousness” – the idea that what we do influences the way God feels about us.¹   

Jesus tells us to abide.  Abiding is our reminder to counteract this wrong thinking.  Here’s what J.D. says about this:

• What if you gave away all your money, wouldn’t He love you just a little bit more?  Nope.
• What if you went to live on the foreign mission field?  No again.
• What if you finally began to treat your spouse with grace? Nada.
• What if you took out the trash for her like she asked?  She might love you more, but God wouldn’t.
• What if you went one full-week without a single, lustful thought?  God’s acceptance of you is based on the fact that Christ went a lifetime without sinning against Him in even the slightest way.  Now, you are in Him and He is in you.  Thus, God could not love you more than He does right now, because He loves Christ perfectly.

You must dwell on this great truth daily.  Sometimes hourly.  Sometimes every minute.  It is the only way to drive out fear, unbelief and temptation … God’s acceptance is given to us, in its entirety, as a gift we receive by faith, to the praise and glory of God.  Make your home in that awareness.  As you do, you will abound in fruitfulness.²

¹ J.D. Greear, Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary

(Nashville, TN : B& H Publishing Group, 2011) 48.

² Greear 57-58.