Functioning (or performing) for God is very desirable to us. But why? Because it is recognizable, celebrated by others and it can be easily measured. And you know we all love to measure our relationship with God. Why is that? Because it's hard to compare when you can’t measure. It’s difficult to track progress when you can’t measure. 

Our relationship with God was never meant to be measured.   We must resist the temptation to embrace and or pursue the functional gospel if we are ever going to enjoy and be secure in our relationship with God. Please read that last sentence again.   

Satan uses many ways to try to keep us from being secure in who we are to God. One of the subtlest, and therefore the deadliest ways, is that he has deceived us into thinking that God's love for us is tied to our performance or function for Him.  

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#simplebelievertv #driftedwithJustin #relationalbeforefunctional

The #gospel is not just a message for the sinner but also for each of us who believe. Jesus finished the work that He came to do - to #redeem mankind from the grip of sin and to restore to every man a new perfect relationship with the Father. No longer is there anything between the Father and us. No longer do we timidly approach Him as a judge, but we can intimately embrace Him as our #Abba Father. Think about this - God has given you a new name. You once were called a sinner, but He now calls you a saint. You once were an orphan, but now He calls you His son or daughter. You once were a servant of sin, but now He calls you His friend.

#driftedwithJustin #relationalbeforefunctional

The gospel tells us that God’s acceptance of us is not gained by our successes or forfeited by our failures. Jesus has restored to PERFECTION what was broken between the Father and us. God has freely supplied His own righteousness to us. Therefore, He no longer demands our own in exchange for His acceptance! God is not some Reality Talent Show judge measuring our performance. He is not at all interested in our lip service. He is our Father, and He desires for us to surrender to His love and receive everything He has freely given us! 

We are His heirs and are joint-heirs with Christ. Yet, how many are trying desperately to fit into some Christian mold rather than allow the true molder to mold us into His very own image! It’s not about fitting a mold or following a script. We must stop being so fixated on our behavior and allow God to develop and mold us from within. That’s how God changes us – from within. He transforms us from the inside out. God is not some taskmaster requiring your obedience without giving you the grace and the desire to obey. He is a Father to those who receive His Son, and He is inviting us on a journey of discovering who He is and learning to enjoy every aspect of Him.

#Christ earned God's pleasure for you and I. Fulfilling a law we could never fulfill and living a standard we could never achieve. He and only He can make and has made us right with God. Our flesh is ugly, and it will use anything it can against you. In fact, our old man gets its thrill from religion and function. Why? Because it can appear to have something on the outside that it doesn’t possess on the inside. 

You can't get right with God through your own works, mental reasonings, or the traditions of men. I’ve heard many ministers over the years say, “it's time to get right with God.” I understand what they are trying to say, but don’t waste your time trying. Just simply #RECEIVE! By faith, receive all that God has for you through what Christ has done for you. They are His gifts to us – the abundance of #grace and the gift of righteousness! 

The question is not what we do to make things right with God; but in fact, how will we respond when our Abba father runs, kisses, and loves on us because Jesus made it right for us 2000 years ago. It's how we respond to HIS love

I learned several years ago how to break the power of a struggling #sin in my life. The moment I sinned God reminded me to receive His mercy rather than the shame of my sin. Everything in me knew what I deserved and therefore I continued to receive the #shame and condemnation that come with that type of behavior. But the Holy Spirit was showing me how to receive God’s mercy and #grace in those moments. As I acknowledged what I did, I immediately received what I didn’t deserve and as I did I knew the power of that particular sin was being broken in my life.

#Religion always places function before #Christ. It demands a transactional way of receiving from God. Why? Simply because religion revolves around "self." And when self is the central focus, then the goal of life is to fix and improve self to make us right with God. And how would you do that? By “doing” better. It sounds good, but oh so far from the truth. 

Religion wants you to LOOK the part but Jesus wants to make you whole!

How many Christians still believe they are unworthy #sinners and continue to struggle to receive from #God because of who they were are what they did in their past. God is whispering to you today, YOU ARE MY BELOVED! 

When will you believe that? Today? What will it take for you to believe that? More than Him saying it? The functional gospel puts the emphasis on your sin! The relational #gospel puts the emphasis on His righteousness!

We will never fully understand the magnitude of God’s mercy and grace toward His people. It’s too deep. But we are held in bondage when we see God’s acceptance tied to our behavior. We wrongly believe that if we behave well enough, God gives us a good grade at the end of the day. Thus, we strive hard to climb up the ladder that has five, ten, or maybe even twenty steps to getting right with God.

Well, before I knew any better, I did all twenty steps, and those steps only led to a sense of self-pride! But why? Because God already did everything that was necessary to make me right with Him! It’s either the cross is enough or my ladder is necessary. God made a new covenant with us through the blood of His Son, and now He sees no fault in us. More than anyone else in the entire universe, God believes in the sacrifice of Jesus. He has absolute faith in that sacrifice, even if you and I don’t!

God no longer measures us according to His Holy standard (the Law). God no longer measures or examines you and I based upon our daily performance. He knows you are "but dust” and to dust you shall return. He knows you will continue to fall short. He knows you never have and will never measure up. He knows you are weak and could never save yourself. And so He measures only one – Jesus, who was a pleasing sacrifice, and as a result, He has invited you in, to dwell with Him. Only because of Christ can God allow you into His Holy presence. And it will always be only because of Christ. He came to us; we didn't go to Him. You and I were lost, and He found us. 

We were…

…sinners who desperately needed a savior.

…slaves who desperately needed freedom.

…orphans who desperately needed a Father.

…criminals who desperately needed forgiveness.

…fugitives who desperately needed to be set free.

…broken souls who desperately needed healing.

…dead men who desperately needed to be made alive.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

I hope you read the passage above and make a decision to believe the words of your Heavenly Father, no matter what you may feel or, at times, even think.

The day I made that decision to simply BELIEVE what God about me was the day my life indeed turned around for the better.[1]Before that, the devil had a field day with me in my mind. The day I began to embrace my new man and stop trying so hard to fix my old man is the day I started to enjoy my FREEDOM in Christ.[2]

We no longer need to feel negative about our past. Our past is simply that – our past. It is never to be resurrected again.[3] No longer do we relate to God based upon who we used to be, but we relate with Him based on who Christ is for us. We couldn’t relate with God in our sin. Under the blood we can. When God relates to you, He sees you in Christ and relates with you accordingly.

[1] 2 Corinthians 6:2

[2] 2 Corinthians 3:17

[3] Romans 6:5-6