Featured Posts

Church

Former Megachurch Pastor Goes Church Hopping as a Newcomer

When finally given the opportunity to simply attend, and not preside or preach ...

Theology

10 Reasons to Believe in a Historical Adam

In recent years, several self-proclaimed evangelicals, or those associated with ...

Opinions

A New Path to Upward Mobility – Get Married and Stay Married

Marriage, we have just learned, is a major cause of the growing great divide ...

Opinions

Darwin's Birthday in Churches Sunday: Liberal Christianity Supports Darwinism

What will be the focus of attention in your church this Sunday? For many ...

The Christian life is just that-a life, not a lifestyle. Sadly, a lot of churches preach Christianity as a list of dos and don’ts. Then faith looks like a formula: Jesus’ saving grace plus doing good things minus doing bad things = righteousness. Most of us have enough problems without worrying about whether we’re following the extra-biblical rules of one church.

A man-made formula for righteousness runs counter to scriptural teaching. In fact, Jesus condemned the Pharisees for such heavy-handed religion (Matt. 23:1-4). He, on the other hand, offered liberty through grace. Neither keeping God’s Law by self-effort nor adhering to extra rules makes a person free. Legalistic believers are in bondage and growing ever weaker.

When a person accepts the saving grace of Jesus, he or she receives a new life (Rom. 6:4). This is not an uptight lifestyle of doing good works. A believer is a changed person-same body but a transformed mind and heart. Christ lives through you. His Holy Spirit flows into your spirit as sap runs in a grapevine. It’s like getting a spiritual blood transfusion! Strength pumps into places where weakness once prevailed. Why rely upon your frail self when the courage and power to follow God’s will is available through Christ?

I know what it feels like to burn out from trying to do good in my own strength. My desire for you is that you’ll surrender to the Lord. Depend upon Him to change you from the inside out, and trust that He will. Jesus is your life. He will never get tired of transforming you.