A Return to Joy

There are days when the daily hustle and bustle distracts me enough that I forget to be excited about the gift of God to me: His grace that saved me. On those days, I forget that I am eternally secured. It seems that when the distractions are so many, and there is little time for the Lord in that day, my thoughts tend to lose their grasp on faith a bit, and tend to rely more on what is seen that what is known to be true.

So that by the end of the day, especially if it has been a difficult day of warring against the flesh, and the flesh seems to have won, my thoughts want to take me to despair that I am even saved.

Thankfully, when I am quiet in bed, before I fall into exhausted sleep (that's how busy those days are!), I make a simple choice to believe that I AM saved (I have a new spirit), that I WILL be saved (my body will be changed to immortal in the twinkle of an eye), and that through it all I am BEING saved even now (my mind is being renewed). And I tell God that, no matter what, I am clinging to the promise that He is going to keep me as His Word promises.

That's called faith. And my faith is in God; but even more than that, my faith is in the LOVE of God. It isn't by faith that I am saved. It is by God's grace that I am saved. Faith only brings me to RECEIVE the gift of God's grace that saves me so that is is BY GRACE through FAITH that we are saved.

The magnitude of God's love for us is what our faith is in, for it is because of His great love for us that He provided us with the means (through Jesus Christ) to have that blessed assurance of life everlasting, rather than death. He knew we would need something to cling to in this whirlwind life we live. And it is the promise of His grace that (once received) keeps me in His hand (no matter what) that returns me to joy, and cause me to continue on faithfully, even though I stumble (better known as sin).

The thing that my flesh tries to deceive me with is in believing the lie that I have to somehow KEEP my salvation. It is when I stumble that those thoughts occur, for I so DO NOT WANT TO STUMBLE! But when I do, the enemy is quick to latch onto that old refrain of "Someone SAVED would never do THAT!" That's when, eventually (and I think I AM getting quicker on the rebound), I say to the devil "Too bad! I AM going to the kingdom of heaven and if God decides I don't belong there, He will have to throw me out! But it's for HIM to decide – NOT YOU and NOT ME!"

Well, that might not be the best way to attack it, but that's what works for me. In the face of those attacks of the enemy that I have come to easily recognize after all these years, I tighten my jaw in a bulldog sort of way, and I place my eternal security in God's hands, not my own, and certainly not the devil's. After all, that's where it belongs. I can't obtain my eternal security, only God can. Only Jesus DID. I can only receive it as the truth….by faith….not by what I see.

Sometimes I don't LOOK saved to me; but that's only when my thoughts stray from the truth of God's Word. When my thoughts are on His Word, and I am surrendered to it, which must be done daily, then His promise, His GRACE, is confirmed in me.

But what is important to remember, is that no matter what I look like, I have been justified by grace and given new everlasting life, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of that was done by God Himself. I cannot undo it! What I CAN undo is my sanctification. And that fact actually makes my rebuttal to the devil more true than I realized, but that's another posting.

Today I just want to rejoice in the goodness of God and His love towards me!

And just as it did for the early disciples, Jesus, the gracious gift of God who loves me, is the Word that brings my return to joy today!