Day 148 "Cracking the Code of Our Circumstances"

During World War II, cracking the code of communication by our foreign enemies proved instrumental in helping to bring about victory for the allied forces. Strategies were forged. Lives were saved. Freedom was reestablished.

As a Christian, have you ever found yourself attempting to understand, trying to decode, your current circumstances in view of God attitude towards you? I mean, when things are going well, you might feel that God is approving everything you are doing and is bringing favor and blessing into your life as a result. On the other hand, have you ever found yourself thinking that God is displeased with your life and withholding his blessing, or worse, extending punishment and discipline in your direction through your circumstances because you aren't living a lifestyle that measures up to what you think God wants? If so, you are living your life under the restraints of "performancism." Performancism is nothing more than believing that your actions and behavior affect the actions and reactions of God

towards you. It incorporates the fundamental idea that our "works," the things we do,

can manipulate God. If you can take a take a step back and look at this concept objectively, you may see that this frame of mind has permeated through every area of your Christian walk: what you tithe, how you pray, the quiet time you spend alone reading your Bible or trying to spend time with God, how you serve others, etc. One's whole attitude becomes grounded in the belief that one "has to do" something favorable to attain God's blessing and good fortune.

But what if we aren't interpreting the moral code correctly? What if, the code of for our performancism has been broken and that the real message of God's love for us is in his grace and love, and has nothing to do with our behavior or performance any longer? Would that not bring freedom from condemnation into your life? Would that not ease the anxiety and restlessness that you are experiencing in your life, knowing that your actions cannot screw things up with God? The book of Romans and Hebrews in the New Testament section of the Bible are instrumental in helping us to understand God's desire for us and to crack the behavior code of our actions and set us free to walk in freedom, as only grace and love can do.

Book of Romans: Romans helps us to understand that through Christ, the written

code (Law), that which was to regulate our behavior, was abolished and set aside by what what Jesus did on the cross.

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Romans 3:21-22

"and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:24

"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." Romans 3:28

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." Romans 5:1-2

"Therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ." Romans 8:1

"Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." Romans 10:4

Book of Hebrews: Hebrews helps us to see that through Christ, a second covenant between God and man has been established. This new covenant is based on faith and grace, not longer dependent on our works or actions. Through Christ, we have already been made holy in God's sight, thus, reconciling what was once a broken relationship with a just and holy God.

"The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law

made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced by which we draw near

to God." Hebrews 7:18-19

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares

the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be

their God, and they will be my people." Hebrews 8:10

"Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive

the promised eternal inheritance-now that he had died as a ransom to set us

free from the sins committed under the first covenant." Hebrews 9:15

"He set aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made

holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Hebrews 10:10

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the

blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Romans 10:19-23

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

When Jesus said, "It is finished," upon the cross, nothing more is ever needed on our part. It is complete. Our reconciliation with God is dependent solely on God's grace and love through Jesus Christ and is merited on our behalf by faith, and faith alone.

Jesus plus anything else adds an unlimited amount of fear

and anxiety.

Through the Holy Spirit, the apostle Paul cracked and decoded the old understanding of our relationship with God to embrace the new:

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy made us alive with

Christ." Ephesians 2:4

"it is by grace you have been saved." Ephesians 2:5

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves,

it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

"And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace." Romans 11:6

Does it make a difference to you if your knew that all of your sins (past, present, and future)

are already covered by what Jesus did on the cross, that this righteousness has nothing to do with how you act and everything to do with what God did through Christ on the cross?

The code for our behavior has been broken. And, therefore, we can be set free spiritually

from our circumstances. God helps us by walking with us through our circumstances-good or bad. But God does not cause our circumstances because of our behavior. For to do so,

would make God's love for us conditional. But God's love is unconditional! Amen!

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Walk in Freedom. And in freedom, embrace love.

In his love, see you tomorrow...

"Carpe Momentum in love." (Seize the moment in love)