For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me… After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?
—Galatians 2:19, 3:3
Rest at His Feet
By Bridgette Cahill
The gospel tells believers that our standing before God is not based on our success of just trying harder, but on Jesus’ work alone. Just as my kids’ play money will never be able to purchase a house, our works can never add up to God’s requirements. The gospel doesn’t tell us to do better and thenGod will help us and be pleased with us. Nor does God require that we have our lives perfected before we come to Him. He longs for our tattered, selfish, ugly, stressed-out selves to come rest at His feet.
What if we rely on the Holy Spirit for strength to tackle all the road bumps and mundane tasks of today? What if we rest in the freedom, thankfulness and all-consuming joy of what Jesus did for us, and wake up in His peace because our worth is not based on how much we do in the next 12 hours? If we try to only work harder in our own strength, we will grow weary and depleted. The Gospel calls us to abide in Jesus, the source outside ourselves, as He offers us the opportunity to bear eternal fruit and share the Great News about Jesus to whomever God brings across our path.
For prayer:
In light of the good news of the gospel, let’s pray that the power of the Holy Spirit will strengthen and change us as we experience the means of grace (the Word, fellowship, and prayer).
Ask the Holy Spirit to use His Word to strengthen us, both in private reading and in the public preaching of the Word.
Ask the Holy Spirit to give each one of us a new heart for prayer and new joy in prayer. Pray for grace and mercy to come to us from his throne of grace!
Ask the Holy Spirit to flood our congregation with grace as we fellowship together in worship, community groups, and in other settings.