Mindset

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion.” Isaiah 30:18

What is grace? It is receiving something we don’t deserve. Why are there so many people walking around today trusting God for their eternity but not living in His love today? Because they don’t believe they deserve it. More people deal with this problem than we even realize. God wants to give us His love; we want to earn it. I don’t think most us mind receiving it once we feel we’ve earned it. We are skeptical about receiving anything that’s undeserved. Our society preaches that you have to earn it. It’s the way our world functions. You work hard, you get paid. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. But there are cautions that come with that way of thinking too. There is no free lunch. Be careful. There’s always a string attached. And, what’s the gimmick? You know what? With God there is no gimmick. There is a free lunch.

Talk about a transforming thought. Paul, in Romans 12:2 says God wants to change the way we think. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” On the surface this sounds like simple stuff. Stuff we all know. But it’s not simple. Our minds are ingrained in the way we think. God wants to change that. In order to do that the first thing we have to do is get God straight. God loves us, more than we will ever know. We cannot earn it. But oh how we try. I remember when my kids were little. If they wanted to show me how they did something and they had me as a captive audience they would try and outdo each other to impress me. I didn’t love them anymore; I just got a kick out of watching them. And when they were in trouble and had my captive attention, I may have wanted to strangle them, but I didn’t love them any less. They knew that because they knew me. They knew that love and they grew up in the security of that love. We have God’s captive attention. There is nothing good or bad that we can do to change it. Are we “growing up” in the security of that love?

“. . . it's important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.” Romans 12:3, The Message Bible

Let your mind be changed.
~ Becky